The woman clapped her hand as she spoke. When the sound of her clap rang out, a horde of insect type Demonic beasts started entering the inside of the mountain through the holes that let the sunlight in. There were mostly spider type Demonic beasts, but there were also Demonic beasts of other types, some armored, some flying, some fast, some slow.

“To the forest! It is the most easily defend-able position!”

Wei Zhong Jun let out a loud shout and led the others to the nearest of the various small forests. In this forest, Wei Yating would be able to utilize her powers to their greatest effect, meaning that everyone would be able to fight with all their power.

“Hanying, Yating. You two help me defend at the front. Huo and Yanyou, take up positions behind us and strike whenever an opening presents itself. Jun, stay in the back and keep an eye on our blind-spots. You are free to attack whenever you feel there is an opening.”

Wei Zhong Jun quickly spat out orders, the others taking up their positions. They positioned themselves in a way that there were trees all around them, making it harder for the Demonic beasts to surround them or attack them from the sides.

While standing in the back, Yao Jun let his vision sweep over the inside of the hollow mountain, especially the lake at the deepest part of the mountain. The moment his eyes had fallen on that lake, he could feel his Demon God's Gate resonate.

It was not as strong as the resonating he felt that tried to drag him towards an unknown place within this hidden realm, but it was definitely resonating. Within that lake, there was something that his Demon God's Gate desired. And that meant that Yao Jun would definitely get his hands on it.

His eyes landed on the woman sitting in the air and looking at them with an amused gaze, no, looking at him with an amused gaze. At first he thought that she might be the same as the dragon he had seen earlier, but upon looking closely, he noticed that was not the case. She was strong, but not as strong as that dragon. If Yao Jun's guess was correct, she was about as strong as Wei Zhong Jun.

“Conserve as much Qi as possible while fighting! But if you do end up needing to refill your Qi, take these. We need to thin out their numbers to create an opportunity to attack that woman.”

Wei Zhong Jun took out several bottles filled with pea sized pills, handing one bottle to each person. These pills were created using several herbs that restored Qi, so swallowing one would allow a person to quickly restore their Qi and continue fighting.

“Here they come! Stand steady!”

As Wei Zhong Jun let out the shout, the horde of Demonic beasts came upon them. There was a large number as well as a large variety of Demonic beasts, but they simply came running at them like they were frenzied. Even the Demonic beasts that would usually fight using ranged attacks ran at them in a frenzy.

Lin Hanying, Sito Yanyou, and Jing Huo all called out their Soul Beasts to reinforce the defenses. Sito Yanyou's was in the shape of a small fox with three legs and four tails. Lin Hanying's was in the shape of a large silver gorilla that was over three meters tall. Jing Huo's was in the shape of a humanoid goat that stood on two legs, three orbs of fire floating behind it.

While the three of them used their Demonic beasts to reinforce the defenses on the ground, Wei Yating used her control over wood to reinforce the defenses above them. She caused the trees to twist and weave together, forming a large net above them, sharp branches sticking out of the net and impaling everything that came close.

Yating and the others had reinforced their defenses and were fighting ferociously, taking down Demonic beast after Demonic beast. But even the four of them put together were not as effective as Wei Zhong Jun, who stood ahead of everyone else as the first line of defense.

The Demonic beasts that rushed at them were strong, but none of them were as strong as the woman who was watching them with an amused smile. And because of that, Wei Zhong Jun was like a tiger amidst a flock of sheep. While his fists crushed two, another five around him would die because their own blood turned against them.

Blood splashed every, providing more and more means of attack for Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating. But it was clear the controlling the blood, especially blood that was still within the Demonic beasts, required a massive amount of Qi. Wei Zhong Jun was constantly swallowing pills to restore his Qi.

Of course, Yao Jun was not just standing back and watching while all this went down. Whenever a flying Demonic beast came in from above and slipped past the sharp branches, Yao Jun would use his control over wind to attack it. If the Demonic beast was weak, he would kill it and snatch its Demon Crystal, swallowing it to absorb its energy. But if it was too strong, he would focus his attacks on its wings or eyes, causing it to crash into the ground and let the others deal with it.

As they fought, his eyes never left the woman who was watching them. She was the leader, as well as the strongest Demonic beast here. Taking his eyes away from her would be foolish. And because he was watching her so closely, he was the only one who noticed it.

Whenever they managed to kill a large amount of Demonic beasts, the woman would slightly raise her arm, causing more Demonic beasts to swarm into the mountain. If it was just that, he could still accept it. But he also saw her release a green light that turned into spider type Demonic beasts that joined the horde. If it was like that, didn't that mean that they would end up fighting an endless battle?

“Their numbers aren't diminishing! We need to finish off that woman or else we will just keep fighting until we are exhausted!”

Despite not seeing the woman summon more Demonic beasts, after several minutes of fighting, Wei Zhong Jun still noticed that the number of Demonic beasts attacking them did not shrink over time, it even seemed to grow.

“I will lead the charge. Hanying, Yating, and Huo, form a spearhead formation with me. Place your Soul Beasts in the back, Jun and Yanyou stay in the middle. We will have to risk it!”

Wei Zhong Jun took the lead of the spearhead formation, pushing out of the forest. Lin Hanying, Wei Yating, and Jing Huo stood at his side and helped him push. Sito Yanyou had a higher cultivation than him, but Jing Huo was more suite to combat like this. The three Soul Beasts defended the back and Yao Jun and Sito Yanyou stood in the middle, attacking whenever they saw the chance.

“Zhong Jun, Hanying, duck!”

While the group was working on pushing towards the woman, Yao Jun suddenly let out a loud shout. Wei Zhong Jun and Lin Hanying did not know why he shouted out, but they decided that now was not the time to question him. They quickly lowered their bodies, just in time to feel something pass over their heads, a few hairs falling down.

“She can create and control strings!”

Just as Wei Zhong Jun and Lin Hanying felt a slight shudder go down their spine and were wondering what had happened, Yao Jun's words answered their questions. He had just barely managed to notice a thin string move towards them at high speed, aiming for Wei Zhong Jun and Lin Hanying.

The group continued to try and move closer to the woman, but the closer they got, the denser the horde of Demonic beasts became. If they continued like this, they would be too exhausted to even attack properly when they reached the woman.

“Change of plans! We are moving towards the exit! At this rate, we won't even be able to attack if we were to reach her.”

Wei Zhong Jun had also noticed that they would only die if they continued like this, so he quickly ordered a change of plans. The exit was further away than the woman, so odds were good that some of them might die, but it was better than all of them dying here.

“Zhong Jun. Would you be confident that you can take her out in one or two attacks?”

Yao Jun narrowed his eyes as he spoke. Moving towards the exit would probably lead to at least half of them dying, and then there would be no chance of acquiring whatever was in that lake. So Yao Jun decided to try something risky instead.

“... If I can catch her unaware, I am confident.”

Wei Zhong Jun was not quite sure why Yao Jun asked that, but he still answered after a slight moment of hesitation. If he managed to catch her by surprise and unleash all his power, defeating her in two attacks would not be impossible.

“Good. If you can get me within 100 meters of her, then I will give you that chance.”

Yao Jun nodded his head as he spoke. 100 meters was the range in which he could control his elements. If they could get him and Wei Zhong Jun to within 100 meters of her, there were things he could do.

“Then let's go. Everyone focus on pushing as hard as possible!”

Wei Zhong Jun narrowed his eyes at Yao Jun's words, but he still nodded his head and shouted out the order. He did not know how Yao Jun would do it, but he was willing to risk it.

With the agreement being made, Wei Zhong Jun stepped back from the front and focused on storing up his Qi preparing his strongest attack in an attempt to defeat the enemy in a single hit. Wei Yating, Lin Hanying, and Jing Huo exerted all their strength to fill the hole that had been created when Wei Zhong Jun stepped back.

The group slowly pushed forward, Wei Yating even used as much of her bloodline as she could, controlling the scattered blood to create floating shields and weapons. The woman sitting in the air looked slightly confused at why Wei Zhong Jun stepped back, but she didn't take any actions against them.

“Yating, spread as much blood as you can onto as many Demonic beasts as you can. If you can make it so that there is blood on their orifices, that will be even better.”

While the group was pushing forward, Yao Jun whispered to Wei Yating. Wei Yating was slightly confused, but seeing Wei Zhong Jun nod at her, she still followed Yao Jun's orders. The weapons she had created using the Demonic beasts' blood started exploding when they came into contact with enemies, as if they had become too weak to support themselves.

Jing Huo's fire was a bit of a nuisance, as it would evaporate some of the blood whenever they came in contact. But since his axe did a good job of cleaving enemies and splattering out more blood, Yao Jun did not say anything. Lin Hanying's brute-force way of fighting was also very useful, shattering the hard exoskeleton on some of the Demonic beasts.

“About 150 meters... Should be doable. Wei Jun. The last 50 meters will be crossed in an instant, prepare to follow me.”

Yao Jun measured the distance between them and the woman sitting in the air. His eyes narrowed and he turned to Wei Zhong Jun, letting him know that they would move into action now. Wei Zhong Jun nodded his head and prepared himself, his entire body tensing up.

A black sword appeared in Yao Jun's hand, slightly surprising Wei Zhong Jun. He had never seen Yao Jun use a weapon before. Did this mean that he was actually a swordsman? And what kind of sword was that? Pitch black in color, with not a single decoration, it was the epitome of simplicity. But just by looking at it, Wei Zhong Jun knew that this was a tyrant's sword, the sword of a ruler.

With the sword in hand, Yao Jun activated the first channel of Crumbling The Nine Heavens, his aura skyrocketing and reaching the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth. The others were shocked at how he suddenly managed to raise his power by so much, but now was not the time to question it. Yao Jun took a step forward, and arcs of purple lightning appeared in the area, ravaging the Demonic beasts.

He would normally have trouble piercing the thick carapaces of most of the Demonic beasts, but by using the scattered blood as a conductor, he could send the lightning into their bodies through their orifices. The purple lightning killed some, but many more were left alive. But it managed to stop them from moving for a second, and that was all Yao Jun needed.

He dashed forward, the shocked Wei Zhong Jun quickly catching on. He wanted to know why Yao Jun could control lightning as well, but he figured that now was not the time to ask. He also figured that he would probably not get an answer even if he did ask, Yao Jun had probably hidden it for a reason after all.

50 meters were crossed in less than a second, putting Yao Jun and Wei Zhong Jun into the 100 meter range. And as they arrived within 100 meters, the eyes of the woman watching them glittered with interest and curiosity. She wanted to see what they were planning on doing.

And she quickly got her answer. The shadows in a 100 meter range suddenly grew and extended, shrouding the entire area in darkness. The Demonic beasts that were still stunned because of the lightning were thrown around when the shadows extended, clearing out the area.

Yao Jun vanished into the shadows, appearing at the left side of the woman. He moved his right hand and put all his might into it, wind, lightning, and darkness coiling around the sword as he struck her with his strongest attack, One Sword To Free The Heart.

“Shame, I was expecting a bit more. There is no worth in you.”

The sword hit the woman, but she only sighed and shook her head with disappointment. Yao Jun's strongest attack hit her shoulder, but it only left behind a small cut, only a few drops of blood sliding down her skin. She could not help but be disappointed. Did he really think he could harm her like that?

The woman raised her left arm and pierced it towards Yao Jun, intending to kill him. But then she suddenly noticed the smirk on Yao Jun's face, a slight chill going down her spine. But by then it was already too late. From the shadow that the woman cast onto the string she was sitting on, Wei Zhong Jun's figure appeared.

Wei Zhong Jun was bursting his power, crimson blood coiling around his right arm and forming a sharp lance. Activating both of his powers, his control over blood and his instantaneous power boost, Wei Zhong Jun struck out with his strongest attack. He was so close to the woman that she did not even have the chance to dodge.

“So that was your plan. A risky move to guarantee a hit huh? Quite well done, if not reckless. Very well, I will acknowledge you. Then to this reckless king, I will grant the fire that my mistress so despises, to turn all your enemies to ash.”

The woman glanced at Yao Jun when she realized that she had been had, a chuckle escaping her lips as a seductive smile appeared on her face. She changed her strike so that it was no longer a spear-hand, but a normal fist. The fist struck Yao Jun's body and flung him away into the distance, preventing him from seeing the result of Wei Zhong Jun's attack.

Despite the pain wracking his entire body after getting hit, Yao Jun realized that his body was not injured. His bones were still fine, and his flesh had not been cut. It seemed like the intention behind the hit was only to send him flying away. Yao Jun was flung away at such speed that he reached the lake at the deepest part of the hollow mountain in less than two seconds, crashing into it and creating small waves.

When he crashed into the lake, he got to see why the middle of the lake was frozen. In the depths of the ice, laid a single creature. Deep crimson scales, two leathery wings, a thick tail, four limbs ending in sharp claws, and a maw filled with teeth that seemed like they could tear apart everything. It looked like a miniature version of the dragon Yao Jun had encountered in the burning wasteland, only three meters long.

“Are you the one who will take me away from here? My lord? Papa said that someday, someone would surely take me away and let me fly freely.”

When Yao Jun looked at the dragon trapped in the ice, it opened its eyes and looked at Yao Jun with its golden eyes. A slightly childish and feminine voice rang out in his mind.

“I'm sorry. But it is currently impossible for me to bring you away, my power seems to be somewhat sealed.”

Yao Jun placed his hand on the ice as he spoke, using mental energy to send his words into the head of the young dragon. He could guess that this dragon was probably the reward that the woman had spoken about, the fire she would give him. But he could not grasp it, for his Demon God's Gate had been somewhat sealed ever since he entered this hidden realm.

“So you really are the one who can do it! Please help Papa be free too once you have the chance, I know that he misses the open sky.”

Despite Yao Jun saying that it was currently impossible for him, the voice of the dragon became cheerful after hearing his response. Yao Jun could feel his eyebrows twitch somewhat after hearing her reply. If his guess was correct and the dragon he saw earlier really was the father of this girl, how was he supposed to help him?

Yao Jun was just about to say something, when the ice suddenly started cracking, red light shining through the cracks. More and more cracks started appearing, the dragon sealed in the ice slowly getting enough space to move. When the ice had cracked enough to move its body slightly, it stretched its body so that its nose came into contact with Yao Jun's palm.

And when the two made contact, Yao Jun felt like the blood within his body turned into liquid fire. The water around him started boiling from the heat that his body suddenly released, a deep red light surrounding him and the young dragon, connecting them.

When the light completely surrounded the both of them, it was like the restrictive power that prevented him from opening his Demon God's Gate was loosened, the dragon slipping in through the opening. And with the dragon vanishing and entering his Demon God's Gate, the burning feeling he felt in his body was soothed, the pain vanishing as his cultivation rose slightly, reaching the middle stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth. Not only his cultivation rose, even his bodily strength rose, his bones creaking and cracking as they grew tougher and stronger.

Despite the pain vanishing, Yao Jun still stood completely still, completely dumbstruck by the turn of events. He had tried to absorb other Demonic beasts earlier, both ones that he had killed and ones that he used mental energy to put under his control. But neither were able to enter his Demon God's Gate, the restrictive energy preventing them.

So why was it that this dragon could enter? Was it because it was a mythical beast, like Sirius was? He also noticed that the resonating he had felt in his Demon God's Gate when he entered the hollow mountain had stopped, now only resonating with whatever it had been resonating with since he entered the hidden realm. The more time Yao Jun spent in this hidden realm, the more interested in it he became, the more he wanted to know what his Demon God's Gate was resonating with.

Yao Jun left the lake and muttered to himself. The area was completely silent, so he was uncertain if Wei Zhong Jun and the others were still fighting. But that did not matter to him any longer, he had gotten what he came here for. And Wei Zhong Jun and the others had seen too much of his power, so they would certainly be wary of him now, wondering why he kept it hidden.

Yao Jun glanced around the area and found a small opening in the mountain, just large enough for him to crawl through. He could not help but wonder if it had been placed there by the woman who had flung him here, since they had not spotted that opening before they entered the hollow mountain.

With an excited and almost ferocious smile on his face, Yao Jun made his way towards the opening. Since he had been able to absorb the dragon into his Demon God's Gate, did that mean that there were other special Demonic beasts in this realm that he could absorb?

As Yao Jun made his way towards the opening, he suddenly stopped walking, muttering to himself. Looking at the strength of the Demonic beasts that he had seen so far, he realized that he was still far too weak. He had to take any chance he could get to increase his strength.

“Since this area is rather peaceful, I should take this chance.”

Yao Jun turned around and returned to the side of the small lake. He made three rounds around the area around the lake, making sure that there were no Demonic beasts hiding away. After making sure that there were no Demonic beasts in the area, he sat down next to the lake and crossed his legs.

He calmed his breathing, only leaving half of his consciousness to keep guard on any movement in the surrounding area. With his breathing calming down, the Qi in the surrounding area was slowly pulled toward him. He had it enter his body and circulate through his body, filling up every inch of his body.

Absorbing Zhuyin had once again greatly improved the strength and toughness of his body. After all, the dragon was a Demonic beast famous for its strong body. Since his body had strengthened and he needed more strength, Yao Jun decided to continue with the next step in the Crumbling The Nine Heavens technique, carving the second channel.

Yao Jun lost track of time as he continued his rhythmical breathing and filled every inch of his body with Qi. Once there was no longer any room for Qi within his body, it was time to extract Qi from his God Gate and use it to carve a new channel where it could reside.

Yao Jun was not certain if he could still interact with the ancient tree located at the center of his Demon God's Gate, but he was pleasently surprised when he saw a stream of black Qi get pulled out from his Demon God's Gate. Since he had only put half his consciousness outside his body, and only to keep an eye on enemy movement, he did not notice orbs of black Qi appear in the air around him, sinking into his body and joining up with the black Qi from his own gate.

The first channel was carved in his left arm, so Yao Jun decided to carve the second channel in his right arm. The black Qi he had gathered up left his body and hovered above his right hand. Yao Jun had a solemn expression as he lowered the black Qi, causing it to dig into his right hand causing blood to gush out.

Yao Jun had already experienced this pain once before, and he personally felt that he had already grown accustomed to pain, but he still had to grit his teeth to not let out a scream as he carved the new channel. The stream of black Qi carved its way up his right arm and into his chest, entering his Demon God's Gate after what felt like an eternity.

When the channel was finally completed, Yao Jun let out a deep breath. He took out some medicine from his interspatial ring and used it to heal the wound on his right hand. He calmed his breathing and started absorbing the surrounding Qi again, filling up the new channel.

While he was filling up the new channel, he also sank his mind into it so that he could learn the new technique that was stored within it. He once more saw the past memories of Sword Empyrean Heng Jiang, seeing how he came up with the technique.

This time he saw a scene where Heng Jiang lost a dear friend he had made while traveling, the friend taking his last breaths within Heng Jiang's arms. To drown out his sorrow, Heng Jiang started furiously training, barely resting or eating as he slowly devised a new technique.

The technique he came up with in the end was the complete opposite of the first technique, One Sword To Free The Heart. It was a sideways slash that utilized the person's sword intent and Qi to send a strike directly towards the opponent's soul. If they were unprepared, that single strike would be enough to kill them. Heng Jiang simply gave it the name, One Slash To Free The Soul.

When the channel had been completely filled up with Qi so dense that it almost became a liquid, Yao Jun finally opened his eyes again. The area around him was dark, so it seemed like it was currently night. As for how many days he spent doing this, he did not know.

Yao Jun noticed that his body was rather sweaty and dirty, so he stripped down and jumped into the small lake next to him. The water was icy cold, but even that felt pleasant to Yao Jun right now. He quickly cleaned himself and then jumped out of the lake.

Deep crimson flames sprouted from his body and dried off the remaining water. When Yao Jun absorbed a new Demonic beast, he learned how it used its element, so he already knew how to control his new fire element. He could even control it to create shapes, or change how hot the fire was.

Yao Jun put on a new pair of pants, keeping his upper body bare for the moment. He quickly grabbed something to eat from his interspatial ring and then started making his way towards the opening that would take him out of the mountain.

He had acquired a new Demonic beast, he had carved a new channel for the Crumbling The Nine Heavens technique, so it was time to continue on. His Demon God's Gate was still resonating with something at the depths of this hidden realm, and he also had to look for Demonic beasts that he could absorb into his Demon God's Gate.

When Yao Jun crawled out from the opening and left the mountain, a cold breeze hit his face. The air was slightly colder than it was when Yao Jun first entered the hidden realm, so he could not help but wonder if this place maybe had the same season cycle as the outside world.

“Now then, over there is it?”

Yao Jun followed the resonating feeling from his Demon God's Gate, turning his head towards the side. When he looked at the direction where the Demon God's Gate told him to go, he could not help but tilt his head slightly in confusion. The resonating was still coming from the depths of the hidden realm, but why had it moved slightly to the side?

If he followed the previous directions by the resonating feeling, he would have to pass through this massive forest and venture into unknown territory. But following this new direction would take him through the frozen wasteland he had seen before he entered the forest.

Was the thing that his Demon God's Gate resonating with something living, like when it resonated with the dragon that was frozen in the lake? Or was his Demon God's Gate trying to lead him through a path where he would encounter the least danger? Yao Jun could not figure out an answer to these questions, but since the resonating was telling him to go to the frozen wasteland, that would be where he would go.

While Yao Jun was moving through the forest, heading towards the frozen wasteland in the distance, he gathered information about how much time had passed by using the insects that he had controlled with his mental energy. It took a few days for all of them to return to him, especially since he was currently on the move.

One of the first insects that returned taught him that he had spent a little over 10 days inside the hollow mountain, meaning that carving the second channel went faster than carving the first one. Wei Zhong Jun had managed to escape from the hollow mountain, bringing with him Wei Yating and Lin Hanying. But Sito Yanyou and Jing Huo did not leave the mountain, so they were probably dead.

Once all the insects returned, even those he had sent out to the different areas, he could not help but be disappointed. He had gotten reports about several dangerous Demonic beasts they had spotted, as well as several humans, but nothing about Guo Luo. Yao Jun gathered up all the information and then sent out the insects again, making them repeat what they did earlier. He placed more mental energy into them so they would be able to infect more insects, increasing the range at which he could gather information.

After all the insects flew away, Yao Jun let out a loud sigh. He did not think that he was the type that got lonely so easily, but right now he was truly feeling lonely. He missed Guo Luo and the others. Yao Jun shook his head and threw the thought out of his mind. Now was not the time to worry about feeling lonely, now was the time to focus on getting stronger.

Yao Jun continued moving through the forest, killing and eating any Demonic beasts that he came across that were weak enough for him to kill. He tried to weaken them enough and see if he could absorb them, but no matter what he tried, they could not enter his Demon God's Gate. It seemed like there was some sort of requirement for Demonic beasts from this hidden realm to enter his Demon God's Gate.

As he started approaching the frozen wasteland, the air getting colder and the occasional snow falling from the sky, Yao Jun once more encountered other people. There were three people standing in front of him, blocking his path with weapons in hand.

There were three people, all three clad in golden robes. The robes were tattered and torn, but Yao Jun could still see the insignia of the Peng clan embroidered on the chest, so they were clearly from the Peng clan. There were a few wounds on their bodies, but they did not seem to mind them.

There were two men and one woman, with the two men obviously being twins. They had eyebrows that slanted sharply upwards, short black hair, somewhat murky brown eyes, and slim builds with long arms. The woman had long brown hair, clear blue eyes, soft features and smooth skin.

“I do not believe that I have any enmity with you, so why do you block my path?”

Yao Jun narrowed his eyes as he spoke to the three people, his sword already grasped tightly in his hands. The weakest among these three people was a person at the early stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth, while the strongest was at the late stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth.

“Mistress Yi wishes for your death, so since we have been blessed with the great fortune to encounter you, we will bring your head to her and have her praise us.”

The woman was the one with the highest cultivation, she was also the one who responded to Yao Jun, pulling out two daggers as she did so. The two men pulled out their weapons, one a halberd and the other a bow, and took up their positions. Yao Jun tried to figure out who this 'Mistress Yi' could be, but there were simply too many people with that name.

He threw the distraction out of his mind and focused on the enemies ahead of him. They might be strong and felt that killing him would be easy, but Yao Jun only saw them as a chance to test his strength. He had yet to unleash his full strength and see how far it could take him.

Yao Jun activated his armament, armor quickly covering his body, each piece of armor signifying one Demonic beast he had absorbed. The newest Demonic beast, Zhuyin, took the shape of a helmet in the form of a ferocious dragon's head. Now Yao Jun only needed two more Demonic beasts to complete his armor. He was actually looking forward to what would happen once the armor was complete.

The man with the halberd and the woman with the dual daggers took up their stance in the front, with the man with the bow taking up stance a bit behind them. The man with the bow infused his Qi into his arrows and readied his shot, while the two others charged towards Yao Jun.

The man with the halberd sent the halberd smashing down on Yao Jun, while the woman with the two daggers lowered her body and dashed towards him. Yao Jun moved to block, when he suddenly felt the gravity around him increase in strength, his feet sinking into the ground. Caught off-guard, three attacks arrived in front of his body.

Yao Jun let out a low curse at himself. He had not activated his strengthening technique because he wanted to see how far he could go without it. But doing so without knowing the abilities of the enemies had been foolish. With the three attacks approaching him, he quickly activated both of the channels.

Black Qi surged beneath his armor, only visible around his upper arms and thighs, and sank into his body. His cultivation rapidly soared, only stopping when it reached the late stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth. Had he only activated the first channel, he would only have reached the early stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth, which he felt would not be enough for this battle.

Yao Jun forcefully resisted the increased gravity, twisting his body slightly. He raised his left arm and used it to block the descending halberd, used the sword in his right hand to block the two daggers, and let the arrow that flew towards him graze his left shoulder.

When he blocked the halberd with his left arm, he felt a tremendous pressure push down on his left arm so it was clear that it was the halberd user who had increased the gravity around Yao Jun. The two daggers were blocked, but the woman simply let go of them and pushed both of her palms towards Yao Jun's abdomen.

The skin on her palms split open as the bones in her hand turned into sharp spikes that aimed to stab into Yao Jun. Her power seemed to let her twist and control the bones inside her body. But it also looked like doing so hurt, as the woman furrowed her eyebrows and clenched her teeth.

Crimson flames and violet lightning shot out from Yao Jun's body, the wind in the area getting violent as Yao Jun activated his own abilities. He tried to push away the halberd, but found himself unable to move his left arm, it was like he had suddenly lost control over it. Yao Jun slightly moved his eyes and saw that the man with the bow held his arm in the same position as Yao Jun. Could it be that he could control whatever he hit with his Qi?

Yao Jun narrowed his eyes and released his own attacks. The wind turned into sharp blades that sliced open the area, while the flames and lightning that sprouted from his body turned into large javelins that flew at the three people. The trees in the area caught on fire from the high heat, but now was not the time to worry about it.

Thanks to the fire javelins, the woman was forced to pull back her hands and dodge away from Yao Jun. The man with the halberd was also forced to dodge the onslaught of attacks. Yao Jun grabbed this chance and decided to go for the kill. His left arm twisted and grabbed hold of Yao Jun's throat, trying to choke him, but Yao Jun simply ignored it.

His eyes locked onto the man with the bow, the man Yao Jun considered the most dangerous. The man flinched from Yao Jun's gaze and was going to put up a defense to defend against whatever Yao Jun was planning, but there was nothing he could do. The man's shadow rose up from the ground and swallowed him whole. The man was shocked to find himself suddenly reappearing right in front of Yao Jun, but before he could utter a sound, a sword sealed his throat and stole his life.

With every increase in his cultivation, Yao Jun's control over his elements increased. And right now he had the cultivation of someone at the late stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth, bringing someone through the shadows and to his front was no problem, even if that person had a cultivation at the middle stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth.

With the death of the bowman, Yao Jun regained control over his left arm. He quickly let go of his throat and took a few quick steps forward, his speed so fast he almost resembled a black blur. His left arm grabbed onto the head of the halberd, violet lightning dancing around him as he sent as much lightning as he could into it.

The lightning traveled through the halberd and into the body of the man. Not only were the insides of the man fried by the high temperature, the lightning interacted with his brain and took over control of his body. The brain sent out electric signals to control the body, so with enough control from Yao Jun, he could do the same with his lightning, creating a strange form of mind control.

The man used his own halberd to behead himself while his insides were getting roasted, leaving behind only the woman. Looking at Yao Jun, she could not help but tremble. They were the same cultivation level right now, but she was clear that his strength was leagues above her. The forest around him burned, lightning arced around him, the wind rage around him, and the shadows danced as he stepped forward. She had never seen a monster like this, and now she also realized why her mistress wanted him dead. If he were to grow up, he would become nothing but terrifying.

“You helped me test my strength a bit, so thanks I guess.”

Yao Jun's voice was nonchalant. He wanted to test his strength, and he had been pleasantly surprised when he saw the result. His strength had increased greatly from when he first entered the hidden realm. Yao Jun took another step forward, and the woman tried to take a step backwards to retreat. But the shadows beneath her turned into thick tendrils that coiled around her legs, causing her to fall backwards as she tried to retreat.

She was scared and panicking, so there was no longer a way for her to think straight and put up a defense. As she fell backwards, the shadows beneath her turned into thick spikes. Once she fell on them, they started spinning and drilled into her body, reaping her life. Without putting up a defense with her Qi, her body was only a little tougher than normal peoples.

Yao Jun undid his armament and picked up the interspatial rings of the three people. They were filled with various medicinal herbs and pills that could restore Qi and cure wounds. There were some herbs there that Yao Jun had never seen before, so he looked forward to getting to plant them in his Demon God's Gate.

Yao Jun looked at the fire that was raging around him, a cramped smile appearing on his face. He could only hope that it did not spread throughout the entire forest, angering whatever terrifying Demonic beast that certainly lived within it. He turned towards the frozen wasteland that was not too far away and once more started heading towards it.

The edge of the forest was in the shape of a steep incline, with the frozen wasteland located at the top of the incline and the forest at the bottom. The trees and vegetation at the edge of the forest had already withered and died because of the cold, so it was a very brown and dull area where nearly no life thrived.

Yao Jun did not immediately enter the frozen wasteland once he reached the edge, he instead found a decently secluded spot and sat down in quiet meditation. He had three reasons to sit down, one was to get some rest, the second was to try out a few things he had in mind, and the third one was to gather up one last round of information from his insects.

The insects would not be able to follow him into the frozen wasteland, as the cold would kill them immediately. So he sent them out as far as they could go, as fast as they could go, so that they could gather information in places they had not been yet. Once they returned with the information, then he would enter the frozen wasteland.

But until they returned, he had things he wanted to try out. After meditating and resting for three hours, he opened his eyes and stood up. He had only rested for three hours, but for Yao Jun that was plenty. Ever since he was 5 he had been training, with only a few breaks. The longest break he had ever taken was when he spent five months traveling towards Golden Moon Town with Guo Luo. He had long since become able to act with barely any rest.

Yao Jun gripped his sword tightly, his body standing completely straight. He started striking out with his sword, performing a variety of slashes and stabs. While doing so he was also moving around, dashing from place to place and performing dodges, as if he was fighting an invisible enemy. There were times where his sword would get covered in shadows and almost vanish, but it was only for a short moment.

“It's not quite right, I can't seem to activate it fast enough.”

Yao Jun felt that his fighting style was still a bit too simpleminded. He would attack with his sword, or use one of his elements to attack, that was it. But he had so many elements at his disposal, only using them so simplemindedly would be a waste. To fix that, Yao Jun was currently trying two different things.

He continued to strike out with his sword, the shadows covering the sword growing more and more dense. Until finally, his sword completely vanished in the middle of an attack, slashing a tree located a few meters away from him. Another strike caused his sword to vanish into the shadows once more, striking a tree located behind him as the corners of his mouth raised into a smile.

Since he could move his body and other people through the shadows, did that not also mean that he could move his attacks through the shadows? That was what he was practicing right now, activating his control over shadows fast enough to swallow his weapon mid attack and having it re-appear at a different location almost instantly.

He had managed to have his attack be swallowed by the shadows, but he was not quite satisfied with how much time it took. Between the attack getting swallowed and re-appearing, about one second passed. In a life and death battle, that one second delay could end up being his demise. So he continued to train, striking out with his sword and moving around.

While moving around, he also started stepping into the shadows and re-appearing at different locations. If he could manage to do this fast enough, and at the same time mix it with having his attack get swallowed by the shadows, his options in a fight would increase greatly.

He continued training until he ran out of Qi and was forced to take a break and rest a little. Checking the sky he saw that the sun was starting to rise, so he knew that he had been at it for a little over half a day. He had managed to increase the speed at which he and his attack would re-appear, but it was not quite satisfactory just yet, enemies specialized in speed would still be able to dodge. Yao Jun was not like Yun Yantian and the others, he had no other special talents, he was wonderfully bland. Because of that, he wanted to at least perfect the one thing he could do, battle.

After resting for a few hours and restoring his Qi, Yao Jun once more stood up and started training. He did not start training with the shadows again, as he was going to try a different thing. He still dashed around, still struck out with the sword in his right hand, but his left hand was tightly clenched, large amounts of Qi gathering in his hand.

The amount of Qi within his left hand was steadily rising, the air around his fist slightly distorting, but Yao Jun still had a frown on his face. After one and a half minute of dodging around and sending out attacks, he stopped gathering Qi within his left hand.

“One and a half minute if I want to do it during combat, it might even take more depending on how the battle is going. I need to increase the speed at which I gather, condense, and fuse them together. Otherwise it will be nothing but useless.”

Yao Jun raised his left arm and opened his clenched fist. Silently floating above his left palm was a grape sized crimson orb. The orb looked completely harmless, but the air around it was violently distorting, showing that it was not as harmless as it looked.

Yao Jun waved his hand, causing the orb to turn into a red blur that shot into the distance. When it reached a place that was around one kilometer away from Yao Jun, it exploded. The grape sized orb rapidly expanded, turning into a large dome of fire that was half a kilometer in size, turning everything within that area to ash.

Just as the dome of fire reached its full size, a violent wind blew out from within the dome, wrapping up all the fire and turning into a violent tornado composed of fire, with blades of wind flying out from the tornado. The earth was scorched and molten, the blades of air becoming so hot that everything sliced by them were immediately incinerated. After half a minute, the tornado of flame died down, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.

“The power certainly is satisfactory.”

Yao Jun could not help but praise it. He had lightning for piercing power, wind for slicing power, darkness for surprise attacks, mental energy for control, and now he also had fire for area attacks. The attack he had just released was a fusion of his fire and wind power, with the wind stoking the fire, and the fire heating up the wind and increasing its power. The only problem was that it took time to create this attack, so he needed to train and cut down the time it took to create it.

With those thoughts in mind, Yao Jun continued his training. He would train until he was out of Qi, rest, and then start training again. He continued the cycle for several days, waiting for the insects to return and deliver their reports. After training for five days, the insects finally returned and brought with them a report Yao Jun had never expected to hear.

“Guo Jiahao. Guo Zhe. Why are the two of you here?”

Yao Jun read through the memories of all the insects, taking in everything that they had seen. And he had seen someone he had never expected to see. The insects had spotted Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao traveling together with a group of people from the Peng clan. They were currently traveling around a massive valley where strong winds whipped the rocks around, heading towards a vast plain filled with lakes.

But Yao Jun was certain that he had been one of the last people to enter the hidden realm, and he had not seen either Guo Jiahao or Guo Zhe enter the hidden realm. So how did they show up here?

“It doesn't matter. Since you are here, you cannot escape from me. I will take your heads and take back my ring.”

Yao Jun's eyes were cold as he softly caressed the scar on his chest. The only reason he had not gotten rid of the scar yet was because he wanted it to serve as a reminder of how weak he had been and how much pain Guo Jiahao and Guo Zhe had inflicted on him. The day he killed Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao would be the day he healed the scar.

“All in due time.”

Yao Jun took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Even though he wanted to kill the two of them right now, they were too far away from him. They were also accompanied by people from the Peng clan, so Yao Jun needed more strength before he could attack and kill them. Yao Jun's eyes turned towards the frozen wasteland as he stood up and started walking towards it. First he would find out what was calling to his Demon God's Gate, then he would see if he could move to kill Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao.

The frozen wasteland was completely different from the other environments Yao Jun had ever seen. A strong wind whipped up the loose snow on the ground, while the snow that was falling from the sky felt like tiny knives of ice as they touched his skin. To prevent himself from falling into the deep snow, Yao Jun had to constantly circulate his Qi through his feet to be able to walk properly.

“I really don't want to meet whatever Demonic beast is responsible for creating a place like this.”

Yao Jun could not help but silently mutter to himself as he walked. The cold wind and snow forced him to constantly produce a small amount of fire around him, and the snow was so white and pure that it almost blinded him whenever he looked at it. He had already walked through the frozen wasteland for 3 days, and since he constantly had to circulate his Qi, there was no way for him to get any sleep. Even to cultivators who had strong bodies, this environment could be considered inhospitable.

Of course despite his lack of sleep, Yao Jun did not allow his vigilance to drop in the slightest, there was no telling what sort of Demonic beasts were lurking in this frozen wasteland. And since relying on his vision in a place like this was not a good idea, he was forced to rely on his other senses and instincts to notice any traces of Demonic beasts.

The frozen wasteland was mostly flat, with a few deep gashes in the ground that went deeper down than Yao Jun was able to see, as well as a few snow covered mountains located in various places. Over the last three days of walking, Yao Jun had occasionally spotted traces of people wandering through the area, as well as traces of battle.

One such trace of battle was a snowy mountain in the distance that had its top half completely shattered, with only a few sharp rocks left sticking up. The reason Yao Jun could tell that this shattered mountain had recently been the site of a battle was because there was still smoke coming from the shattered part of the mountain. There was even something that seemed like lava slowly dripping down the side of the mountain. The fact that it had yet to stiffen or freeze showed just how hot the lava was.

If it was up to Yao Jun, he would try to walk in a circle around the shattered mountain. But right now he could not do that, because there was something on that shattered mountain that resonated with his Demon God's Gate, calling to him just like Zhuyin had. Because of that, Yao Jun had to head directly towards that shattered mountain.

While Yao Jun continued walking, he suddenly felt an all-encompassing feeling of danger assault him. He did not even stop to think, his body vanishing into the shadow and re-appearing 100 meters away. Since there was snow flying around in the air, there were plenty of shadows for Yao Jun to take advantage of. The moment Yao Jun vanished into the shadows, the snow where he had been standing exploded.

Not just snow, but also sharp shards of ice shot upwards at high speed. The snow and ice that shot upwards quickly changed direction, once more shooting towards Yao Jun. Not just the ice and snow that had been shot up from the explosion shot towards Yao Jun, all the snow that was in the area was starting to move towards Yao Jun.

Yao Jun once more vanished into the shadows and appeared 100 meters away, but this time he had a gash on his left arm. Using the shadows to dodge would only work perfectly if the opponent was at a certain low level of strength. The fact that the Demonic beast was able to send its snow and ice into the shadows to attack Yao Jun told him one thing, that the Demonic beast was very powerful, most likely stronger than him, something that had started happening more and more to Yao Jun since he entered this hidden realm.

Yao Jun opened the palm of his right hand, a ring of crimson fire spreading out from his body and melting all the snow around him. Using the ring of fire, Yao Jun created an area of flame around him, removing all the snow within 50 meters of him.

With the snow no longer able to approach Yao Jun, the Demonic beast that had been in hiding was forced to reveal itself. From the place where the snow had first exploded, a large Demonic beast that resembled a gorilla appeared. The body of the Demonic beast was at least five meters tall, but it had still been able to hide perfectly within the snow. Its arms were as thick as a barrel, its body covered in snow white fur, and there were two large fangs sticking out from its lower jaw, almost reaching all the way up to its nose.

“No fucking way.”

The moment Yao Jun saw the Demonic beast, all thoughts of trying to battle it vanished from his mind. The Demonic beast was even stronger than Wei Zhong Jun, having already reached the 7th Xiantian Heaven. Trying to fight it would only lead to his death, so Yao Jun immediately made the choice to escape. Trying to use the shadows to flee was foolish, as the Demonic beast was capable of attacking into the shadows, so Yao Jun chose to flee using overwhelming speed.

He activated both channels he had carved for Crumbling The Nine Heavens, and then took it one step further. He could increase his speed by coating his body with lightning, but there was one other way he could increase his speed even further, by letting the lightning course throughout every inch of his body, forcing his nerves and limbs to react and move faster than they should be able to.

He had only come up with this technique recently, so he had not tested it properly because of the great pain it brought with it whenever he used it. But now was not the time to worry about something like that. Lightning crackled within his gray eyes and spread throughout his body, even coursing throughout his brain. Time seemed to slow down as all his senses were raised to the extreme because of his brain being forced to move at several times its normal speed.

Arcs of purple lightning danced around his entire body, even lifting up his violet hair and causing it to dance in the wind. Arcs of lightning danced in his pupils, even being released from his mouth and nose whenever he let out a breath. Right now, he truly looked like someone born of lightning.

Both his strengthening techniques were active so Yao Jun was currently at his strongest, his body filled with overwhelming strength and pain. Yao Jun ignored the pain and took a step forward, his body blurring as the sound of thunder rang out. Despite his dramatically increased speed, the Demonic beast was still able to react, throwing a punch towards Yao Jun. Following the punch of the Demonic beast, the snow that was falling from the sky also started to shoot towards Yao Jun.

Yao Jun did not move to dodge the snow, allowing it to slash open his body and dye the snow red with his blood. The Demonic beast had far more strength than him, but it seemed like it was completely focused on raw power, it lacked speed. Yao Jun used his control over wind to create a temporary foothold beneath him and using it to jump upwards.

His foot landed on the fist of the Demonic beast and Yao Jun used it's fist as another springboard. He put strength into his foot and continued to shoot forwards, moving past the eyes of the Demonic beast like a blur and vanishing into the distance behind it. He had considered trying to take the chance to send an attack towards one of its eyes, but he quickly gave up on the idea.

A Demonic beast as strong as it, even its eyes would have great defensive strength. It was more likely that his attack would bounce off and delay him. Yao Jun chose to go with the safer option of simply fleeing as fast as he could. While he was fleeing from the Demonic beast, he also started feeling more confident about heading towards the shattered mountain. If he could flee from a Demonic beast at the 7th Xiantian Heaven, even if it was one focused on strength, he would most likely be able to flee from whatever was calling for him in case it ended up being too strong.

After fleeing from the Demonic beast, Yao Jun found a place where he dug himself down into the snow and created a cave beneath the ground where he could rest and heal up his wounds. Not only had he been harmed by the snow that the Demonic beast could use, but the technique that let him strengthen himself with lightning was not perfect, so it left behind burns inside his body, as well as damage to some of his nerves.

“Should only take about a week to heal if I use Demonic beast meat, blood, as well as a few herbs. I have also gotten closer to my destination thanks to the speed, so I should be able to reach it in a single day of travel if I move at my full normal speed.”

Yao Jun took out a small pot from his interspatial ring as he spoke, dropping in a few medicinal herbs and some Demonic beast blood. He used his fire to boil up the mixture, as well as using the fire to roast some Demonic beast meat. He had found that eating Demonic beast meat was the best way for him to restore his Qi. And mixing their blood with herbs, and then applying the mixture to his wounds, would also allow his wounds to rapidly heal.

“Really. Eating their meat to restore my strength, and using their blood to heal my wounds. How very much like a Demonic beast.”

Yao Jun let out a slight chuckle as he began to apply the blood to the places where he had wounds. As far as he knew, only a few Demonic beasts had blood that had healing properties. So he who could use any type of Demonic beast blood to heal himself was different from normal people. The only cause he could think of was the fact that he was the holder of the Demon God's Gate, so he could only attribute it to that.

In that underground cave, Yao Jun healed his wounds and restored his strength, like a beast licking its wounds after a battle. On the fourth day after facing the gorilla type Demonic beast, Yao Jun felt that he had returned to his peak condition.

“A bit faster than I originally expected. Is it because I grew stronger?”

Yao Jun clenched his fist slightly as he wondered to himself. He had returned to his peak condition three days faster than he had expected, which he found a little odd. The only reason he could think of that he would heal faster was because his cultivation had grown, but would he really heal that much faster simply because he had grown slightly stronger?

“Really, more and more bizarre by the day.”

Yao Jun simply shook his head and chuckled slightly, standing up and leaving the underground cave. There was no way a human of his level of strength would be able to heal wounds like the ones he had in only four days. The only beings he knew that could heal that fast, or even faster, were humans with higher cultivation levels or Demonic beasts.

After leaving the underground cave, Yao Jun continued making his way towards the shattered mountain. After four days passing, the lava that had been present at the shattered mountain had hardened and turned into pitch black rocks that were slowly getting covered by the constant snow. With time, all trace of what had happened atop that mountain would vanish beneath the pure snow.

Yao Jun made his way through the snow, dodging into the shadows whenever he felt that a Demonic beast was approaching. Thankfully, he did not have more bad luck, and did not encounter any other strong Demonic beasts. After traveling for a little over one day, he managed to reach the bottom of the mountain. Yao Jun stopped at the bottom of the mountain for a short moment, checking one last time that the resonating he was currently feeling was coming from the top of the mountain. After he made sure that the resonating came from the top of the mountain, he did not hesitate and climbed to the top of the mountain.

The top of the mountain was rather flat, with several large and spiky stones sticking up. From what Yao Jun could see, the spiky stones were the remains of the top part of the mountain. The flat ground was a mixture of black and white, with some places devoid of snow as the hardened lava was still a bit warm in those places.

“So the Great Lord's Gate has degraded so much that it has fallen into the hands of a mere human? If my ancestors were here, the would certainly cry. You defiler of that which my ancestors held holy, have you come here to scavenge and defile even more things?”

A dignified and slightly sad voice came from the center of the open area. Yao Jun's eyes landed on the source of the voice, his eyes narrowing slightly, the resonating in his chest reaching a peak. At the center of the open area, a Demonic beast rose up from the snow.

The Demonic beast was in the shape of a horse, albeit a rather large one. A little over three meters long, and a little over two meters tall. Its fur was a pristine white in color, with three blue streaks going down its side. It had a long mane of silver hair going down its neck, and a single horn that looked like a jagged spike of ice growing out of its forehead. It had a cultivation of the early stage of the 4th Houtian Sky and the eyes it used to look at Yao Jun were filled with disdain.

“Great Lord's Gate? Is that what you call the Demon God's Gate? What is wrong with it being in my hands?”

Yao Jun did not immediately move to attack, instead slightly tilting his head at the words of the Demonic beast. While talking, he was also looking the Demonic beast up and down, trying to figure out what race it was. But even after looking it up and down, he could not come up with any race that it might be.

“The owner of the Demon God's Gate is the lord of all Demonic beasts, so there is nothing wrong with calling it the Great Lord's Gate. And you wonder what is wrong with it being in your hands? The power of the lord of all Demonic beasts is in the hands of a mere human, how can that not be wrong?”

The Demonic beast also did not seem like it was in a rush to attack, slowly explaining with a slightly mocking voice. Yao Jun also had to admit that he had thought about the same thing, why would the power to lord over Demonic beasts be in the hands of humans?

“So the gate used to be controlled by Demonic beasts in the past? Is that even possible? Did your ancestors tell you that?”

Yao Jun continued to ask, slightly interested. At the same time, he also wondered how the Demonic beast knew this. It mentioned it's ancestors earlier, so maybe it had learned from them? But if its ancestors knew this kind of information, just how strong were they?

“Why would it not be possible? My ancestors said that it is a power for Demonic beasts, so it should of course be in the hands of Demonic beasts, only we can release its true power.”

The Demonic beast let out a snort, blowing up the snow on the ground. Yao Jun also felt that this made some sense, a power for Demonic beasts would obviously only release its full power when wielded by a Demonic beast. But he would of course not completely trust the words of this Demonic beast simply because its words made a bit of sense to him. Even if the power used to be in the hands of Demonic beasts, it was in his hands now, so it would have to follow his orders.

“Hoh? I wonder if that really is true. I am just going to ask this, but would it be possible for you to simply agree to follow me peacefully?”

Yao Jun looked straight at the Demonic beast as he spoke. His Demon God's Gate was resonating with the Demonic beast in front of him, so Yao Jun guessed that he could absorb it into the gate if he managed to gain its approval. He would prefer if it would be like Zhuyin, voluntarily following him. But if it would not, he would have to beat it down and then see if he could absorb it like that.

“To follow you peacefully? You, who have defiled the power my ancestors revered, you who have come here to scavenge this world that was created for my ancestors by their master? If you had strength, I would not have minded following you to see if a human truly could use the Great Lord's Gate. But you are weak. Following you would only lead to ruin.”

The Demonic beast let out what seemed to be a mocking chuckle, its eyes scanning Yao Jun up and down. It could see that he was only at the middle stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, far weaker than itself. If it decided to follow him, all that would await it was death.

“If that is what you think, then I can only beat you down to convince you. And I'll make this clear right now, I was called to this world by the Demon God's Gate, I have not come to scavenge a single thing.”

Yao Jun shrugged his shoulders and brought out his sword, taking up a battle stance as he spoke, his lips curling into a slightly ferocious smile. He was the one who had been called to this world, so he would not accept being called a scavenger.

“Very well. Then show me how you will beat me down with that pitiful strength.”

The area around the Demonic beast started freezing after it spoke, the air atop the mountain quickly growing colder, even the snow falling from the sky turning to ice as it came within the range of the cold air.

When the temperature of the air started to rapidly drop, Yao Jun sprung into action. This was not a fight where he could take it easy, so he immediately opened both channels of his technique, pushing his cultivation to the late stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth. At the same time, he also activated the lightning technique he had come up with not too long ago, pushing his speed and power to the top.

His sword and armor appeared on his body, preventing the frozen snow from piercing into his body. With the addition of Zhuyin, Yao Jun only needed two more Demonic beasts to complete his armor, one for his upper arms and one for his thighs. Yao Jun stepped forth and shot towards the Demonic beast, the wind raging around him as he moved at full speed.

When Yao Jun shot forward, the top of the entire mountain trembled faintly, spikes of ice growing up from the snow and piercing toward Yao Jun. Using one of the spikes as a foothold, Yao Jun kicked off it and started moving between the spikes in an unpredictable pattern. But this Demonic beast seemed to be faster than the one Yao Jun had escaped a few days ago.

The ice spikes that Yao Jun was using as footholds started shattering, the jagged pieces of ice started flying through the air at high speeds, shooting towards Yao Jun. At the same time, the spikes of ice that did not shatter started growing twisted spikes, almost like branches on a tree. The branches started moving around Yao Jun, trying to surround him and lock down all paths of escape for him.

While doing all this, the Demonic beast itself did not stay still. Its body vanished into the surrounding ice, its head popping out from one of the branches that had gotten close to Yao Jun's back. With the jagged horn on the head of the Demonic beast approaching Yao Jun, a strong sense of danger filled his body.

His body acted on instinct. He jumped up and used wind to create a quick foothold in the air, forcibly turning his body around to face the incoming attack. He created another gust of wind to throw up the snow on the ground, causing it to slightly blind the Demonic beast. At the same time, he used his mental energy to try and disorient the Demonic beast.

He was not sure if his mental energy attack was effective, as it had gotten less and less useful in combat lately, but he still continued with his actual attack. His left arm grabbed onto the horn and grasped it tightly, pulling the Demonic beast out of the ice and position it underneath the airborne Yao Jun. Yao Jun used his left arm to push down the head of the Demonic beast, and his right arm struck out with his sword. Fire, lightning, and wind entwined around his sword as he struck out with the first technique he had learned, One Sword To Free The Heart.

The Demonic beast was not content with simply taking on the attack, so it reacted quickly, blowing away the snow with a heavy exhale. Tiny thorns of ice grew out of its horn, easily piercing through Yao Jun's armor and stabbing into his hand. Yao Jun could feel himself lose feeling in his left hand, so he quickly let go of the Demonic beast's horn and pulled his hand back. While he channeled fire into his hand to remove the thorns of ice that remained in it, the Demonic beast's head and back grew a crystalline and spiky armor of ice to block Yao Jun's attack.

Yet, just as the Demonic beast braced itself to block the incoming attack, the attack vanished from its sight. Before it had the chance to realize what happened, it felt a strong sense of danger coming from beneath it. Without bothering to think about it, an armor of ice grew on its stomach to protect it. As the armor of ice was forming, a strong impact hit the stomach of the Demonic beast, fire, wind, and lightning exploding outwards as a stabbing pain assaulted the Demonic beast.

The Demonic beast rapidly repeated, jumping backwards and shattering the ice spike that Yao Jun had pulled it out of. It landed a short distance away from Yao Jun and rapidly inspected itself. The armor it had created on its stomach had completely shattered, a stab wound digging into its stomach and causing its white fur to be stained red. The flesh around the wound was charred, with several smaller cuts branching out from the stab wound.

“Fire from the Crimson Dragon, wind from the Sky Wolf, darkness from a mutant, lightning from a low ranked beast, and that mental energy that resembles the child of an Illusory Roc. Since you are using its mental energy, I guess you have not truly learned about the power that the bloodline of the Illusory Roc grants.”

The eyes of the Demonic beast seemed to narrow as it moved its eyes away from the wound and onto Yao Jun, who was standing a short distance away, fire, lightning, and wind dancing around his body and blade. The last part it said was little more than a mutter, but Yao Jun still managed to hear it.

“Quite knowledgeable, huh? You saw right through all of my abilities. And I guess you won't tell me what you mean when you talk about the true power of the Illusory Roc bloodline?”

Yao Jun could not help but let out a slightly bitter laugh. Simply by taking them on once, the Demonic beast had immediately found out exactly what type of Demonic beasts Yao Jun had acquired. He was very interested in what it said about the bloodline of the Illusory Roc, as the mental energy that he gained from Little Gray was no longer very useful in battle, as he was mostly facing opponents with higher cultivation than himself.

“I will not. You will learn about it rather soon if you just grow a little stronger.”

In response to Yao Jun's comment, the Demonic beast gave a short nod of its head and responded. After the Demonic beast responded, Yao Jun once more pointed his sword towards the Demonic beast, the elements dancing around him growing ferocious as he spoke.

“Well, let's continue this. I am not so kind as to let you completely heal your wounds while we are talking.”

Yao Jun could see the flesh on the stomach of the Demonic beast wriggling, so it was clear that it was taking this chance to heal the wound that Yao Jun had inflicted after sending his attack through the shadows. He would like to talk a bit more, but that could wait until after he had beaten it.

“Wait. I retract what I said earlier. You are strong, far stronger than I first thought. You have the right to bear that gate, and the right to know my name. I am the Kirin of ice, Zhuanxu. Now come, show me if you are strong enough to be worthy of me following you.”

Before Yao Jun could start the battle again, the Demonic beast, Zhuanxu, called out to him once more. They had only exchanged a single attack, but more often than not, a single attack was enough to ascertain the strength of the opponent. It lowered its head slightly as it spoke, but Yao Jun was uncertain whether it was because it was greeting him or because it wanted to apologize for calling him weak.

As for the race that Zhuanxu was, Yao Jun knew a little about Kirin's. He knew that they were much like dragons, mythic beasts that came in several different elemental subspecies. They had great power, but very few numbers. But the Kirin's he had read about looked like a mixture of a dragon and a horse, he had never read about one that looked like a horned horse.

Yao Jun brandished his sword, but it was Zhuanxu that made the first move. It did not try to buy any more time to heal its wound, but instead chose to make the first attack. All the ice in the area exploded into tiny fragments that started to rapidly spin around Yao Jun, like a large tornado of ice that was continuously growing thanks to the freezing snow.

Yao Jun stood in the center of the tornado and tried to inspect it for a short moment, trying to figure out the best course of action to dealing with it. But before he could get anywhere with his inspection, some of the shards within the tornado shot towards him like tiny blurs. Yao Jun narrowed his eyes and started to twist his body, dodging the shards that flew at him. For the shards that flew at him from angles that were hard to dodge normally, he would jump into the shadows for a short second and then appear a short distance away.

There was no place that did not have a single shadow or any spot of darkness, not even the center of this tornado. Even the shards of ice that flew at him cast a tiny shadow that Yao Jun could take advantage of. It was right as he dodged out of the shadows that the real attack arrived. The shard that cast the shadow Yao Jun used to dodge suddenly grew, turning from a small shard into a human sized doll of ice.

The doll of ice sent out a punch that moved at the same speed as the shards, but Yao Jun was halfway out of the shadow and caught in an awkward position. He twisted his body as best he could positioning his left shoulder in front of the oncoming attack.

The punch hit his left shoulder, a slight cracking sound ringing out as Yao Jun's body spun to the side and was pushed to the ground. Using the momentum of the punch spinning his body, Yao Jun ignored the pain and sent out an attack of his own. His attack was not aimed at the doll, but at the attack that he was certain would aim for the opening that appeared when he got punched.

Just as he thought, the body of Zhuanxu appeared from within the doll, its front legs stomping down at Yao Jun's chest. Yao Jun's sideways slash lit aflame and clashed with the left front leg of Zhuanxu, slicing through the armor, forcing Zhuanxu back a little, and leaving a wound on its leg that reached all the way to the bone. Zhuanxu's right front leg still managed to hit Yao Jun, stomping down on the side of his abdomen and denting his armor.

Yao Jun felt the taste of iron in his mouth as some blood was pushed up his throat and out his mouth, but the corners of his mouth curled into a ferocious smile. He ignored the pain coming from the bones in his left shoulder and forced his left arm to swing out at a high speed. His left arm curled into a fist and crashed into Zhuanxu's right leg. The impact of the hit cracked not only the armor covering the leg, it also cracked the bone inside the leg, but it also caused the leg to stomp down even harder on Yao Jun's abdomen.

He opened his fist and grabbed onto Zhuanxu's leg, ignoring the thorns of ice that grew out from the leg and stabbed into his hand. Yao Jun let out a deep breath and exerted all his physical strength. The bones in his left arm creaked, but he still managed to force Zhuanxu's body upwards. From his prone position, he raised Zhuanxu's body and then slammed it sideways onto the ground.

Once he brought Zhuanxu down, Yao Jun would not give up the opportunity to attack. His left arm still held onto Zhuanxu's right leg, the thorns of ice that pierced into his arm growing longer and longer, already piercing through his arm and wrist. Yao Jun forced his body up and slashed out with his sword, flames, lightning, and wind coating the blade.

Every slash would slice through the armor on Zhuanxu's body, leaving bloody wounds on his body. But there was no way Zhuanxu would simply accept being attacked like this. Yao Jun's left arm that was holding Zhuanxu down was already completely pierced through by spikes of ice, only still capable of moving because Yao Jun was using lightning and wind to force it to move as he wished.

There were also constantly shards of ice shooting out from the tornado that surrounded them, carving open Yao Jun's armor. A single shard was not capable of dealing much damage to Yao Jun, but the damage started piling up as more and more shards sliced him open, drenching his body in his own blood.

The tornado around them suddenly dissipated, and Zhuanxu managed to slip out of Yao Jun's grasp by using the blood that dripped down from Yao Jun's hand. He slipped into the ice and reappeared a short distance away. His body was covered in bloody wounds and his breathing had gotten quite ragged as he looked at Yao Jun, whose left arm was clenched tightly and looked like it would be almost useless for the rest of the fight.

“I must admit, I did not expect you to fight in such an insane manner, not even caring if you suffer wounds if it means you can wound the enemy.”

Zhuanxu's voice was a little weak as it spoke, its eyes looking at Yao Jun with a wary expression. It simply could not fathom that someone would fight in such a manner, basically giving up their left arm for the chance to land a few attacks. It was a style that could only be called completely mad.

“Of course. I am unable to forge weapons. I cannot draw up arrays. I have no idea how to make potions or pills. I am completely useless in everything but battle. Battling and fighting is the only thing I can do properly, so I will do whatever I can to ensure that I get better at it. Beating you and having you follow me will increase my strength, so what if I suffer a few wounds while convincing you to follow me? Besides, if I don't have strength, I will be unable to protect even a single thing.”

Yao Jun let out a low laugh as he responded, not even glancing at his left arm. In this world, the strong could do basically whatever they wanted. To make sure that nothing happened to those he cared about, Yao Jun needed strength, so much strength that no one would even dare think about touching those close to him. So what if he had to endure pain while gaining that strength? Nothing in this world came for free.

“Really. Quite a mad way of seeing it.”

Zhuanxu let out what seemed like a chuckle. It had lived its entire life within this hidden realm, so it had never experienced something like this, nor had it ever met anyone like Yao Jun. Most of the inhabitants in this hidden realm were Demonic beasts that kept to their own territories after all.

“You have no idea.”

Yao Jun's lips curled into a bright smile as he slowly and forcibly raised his left arm. Zhuanxu did not quite know why, but it felt a terrible chill run down its spine when it saw the smile on Yao Jun's face. When Yao Jun raised his left arm up to chest level, he opened his palm and revealed a small crimson orb encircled by violet lightning.

“What is...!”

Zhuanxu did not manage to finish its words, the orb within Yao Jun's hand shooting forward and exploding into a large dome of fire that covered both of them. Bolts of lightning and blades of wind accompanied the flames, completely ruining the top of the shattered mountain. The snow and ice melted under the high heat, the solidified lava once more melting and flowing down the mountain. The lightning shattered the few rocks that did not melt, while the blades of wind sliced up everything that still remained in the end.

When the fire faded, the sides of the mountain were covered in lava, while the middle part was filled with deep gashes and shattered rocks. And at the very center of it all, was Yao Jun and Zhuanxu. Zhuanxu was lying on the ground, its white fur charred black and stained with blood. Gashes covered most of its body, and it was clear that it would not be able to survive for much longer.

Yao Jun was a bit better off, as he was the one who had thrown out the attack, and had some resistance to the elements within the attack. But his armor had still completely shattered, leaving him in only rags. His skin was charred in several places, and he had deep wounds that were bleeding heavily, dying him completely red.

“You have lost, Zhuanxu.”

Yao Jun's right arm still grasped his sword, and he forced his body forward, taking slow steps towards Zhuanxu. His sword let out a low scraping sound as he dragged it behind him. When he reached Zhuanxu, he raised the sword with a trembling arm, placing the blade on Zhuanxu's throat as he spoke.

“Indeed. I am unable to beat your mad way of battling, and you simply have too many different ways to attack. Even worse, you are able to use the fire of the Crimson Dragon, easily nullifying my ice.”

Zhuanxu let out a low and slightly bitter laugh, its voice so weak that it was nearly inaudible. While speaking, it occasionally coughed out some blood and was forced to stop talking.

“Demon God Yao Jun, you have proven your worth. Allow me to follow at your side, providing my aid and observing what heights you will be able to reach.”

Zhuanxu looked at Yao Jun with serious eyes as it spoke. It then closed its eyes and attempted to give a short nod of its head. It had been beaten in single combat, so it had no complaints. Yao Jun forced his left arm forward using wind, and placed his palm on Zhuanxu's head.

A white light surrounded Zhuanxu and Yao Jun, an icy sensation quickly filling Yao Jun's body. It was like all the blood in his veins was turning into ice, his entire body slowly freezing. But just like it was with Zhuyin, the pain quickly vanished as the white light completely surrounded Zhuanxu, absorbing him into Yao Jun's Demon God's Gate. The icy sensation quickly turned pleasant as creaking sounds rang out from within Yao Jun's body, his body growing stronger and his cultivation rising slightly.

After Yao Jun's cultivation settled at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, the creaking sounds from his body stopped ringing out and the top of the mountain turned silent, with only Yao Jun left in the area.

“Haah, only one more and I will complete this armor. I should also be able to break through to the 3rd Mortal Heaven at that point. I wonder what will happen at that point.”

Yao Jun let out a sigh and slightly muttered to himself, looking at the shoulder guards that had appeared and covered his upper arms and shoulder. Zhuyin had granted him a helmet and raised him to the middle stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, and Zhuanxu had granted him shoulder guards and raised him to the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth. Only one more Demonic beast and his armor would be complete.

“But first. I need some rest.”

Yao Jun's legs lost all strength and he fell into a sitting position, letting out a small laugh. Absorbing Zhuanxu had slightly restored his wounds, but he would still need to use a large amount of herbs and pills if he wanted to restore himself to peak condition. Everything else could wait until he was completely restored.

There were two people, a man and a woman, walking hand in hand through Golden Moon Town, wandering between the various stalls and looking at what people were selling in the market square. The man had a well built body, had a head full of short brown hair, a warm and comforting smile, and was clad in a deep green robe. The woman had smooth and delicate features, long black hair, gentle black eyes, a kind smile, and was clad in an exquisite blue dress.

“Do you think anything has happened to him? It has already been several months since father said that Jun'er came back.”

The woman looked at the man with anxious eyes as she spoke. The woman was Yao Xun, and the man was Yao He, Yao Jun's parents. A few months ago, they had gotten a message from Yao Luying that said that Yao Jun had returned to the Grand Quan continent. Ever since then, they had been eagerly awaiting his return.

“You worry too much. He has just returned after being away for so long, and he even brought his girlfriend with him, I am sure that he is just busy showing her all the nice places that he can think of.”

Yao He simply let out a chuckle and squeezed Yao Xun's hand slightly. Yao Luying had also told them about Guo Luo, so they had early on prepared the house to receive an additional visitor alongside Yao Jun.

“Ah! But what if he can't think of any proper places to show her? He has always been training after all, so he probably doesn't know any romantic places to take her.”

Yao Xun reacted with a slight start, as if she had just remembered something, and grew a little frantic. She worried slightly because Yao Jun had always been training, and they had never shown him any good places he could bring his girlfriends. So what if he failed to show her any romantic places and she ended up leaving him?

“You need to relax, he is an adult already, he will certainly figure something out.”

Yao He could not help but let out another chuckle. He did not know how Yao Jun and Guo Luo met, but he felt that it was unlikely that she would mind Yao Jun not knowing any romantic places. If she was looking for someone like that, she would never have ended up together with his son, who only knew training.

“Now then, I believe it is about time for you to tell us why you keep following us. I would prefer to not be interrupted while enjoying some peaceful time with my wife.”

Yao He looked away from his wife, his eyes landing on a few people who were walking nonchalantly through the market. His voice was warm and comforting, but it carried an almost unnoticeable chill. Yao Xun's eyebrows also furrowed when she looked at the men, as if she was annoyed at them.

“Yao He, Yao Xun. If possible, I would like to not have to do this, but I must follow orders. Your son killed the youngest son of Elder Yao Meng, so we have been ordered to bring your heads to him.”

Seven people separated themselves from the crowd, standing around Yao Xun and Yao He, cutting off all paths of escape. The one who spoke was a lanky man with a bald head and a large scar that almost split his scalp in half. When he spoke to Yao He, his eyes contained clear traces of sorrow and determination.

“Jun'er managed to kill Yao Shui? Yao Shui should have recently reached the 2nd Mortal Earth, has the strength of Jun'er grown so quickly?”

Yao Xun let out a slightly surprised exclamation after she heard the words of the lanky man. They did not contact the clan a lot, but they still got the latest news about some of the more important people in the clan. Since he was the son of a rather important elder, information about Yao Shui had also reached them.

“Father said that Jun'er had been at the 1st Mortal Earth when he had seen him, so it seems that Jun'er is taking care to cultivate diligently. As for you, I apologize. I refuse to hand over the life of my wife, or my own. After all, what father dies before he can even see the future wife of his son?”

Yao He had a smile on his face as he spoke. His son was rapidly getting powerful, so how could he not be proud. His gaze landed on the lanky man as he finished his sentence, shaking his head. There was no way he would allow his wife to die, nor was he himself willing to die before seeing his son again.

“Don't make this harder for us than it has to be, I am begging you.”

The lanky man had a begging expression in his eyes as he spoke. Just the fact that he had to kill people who had fought so hard for the clan was already hard for him. It would only be harder if they were to struggle and fight back.

“I don't care about your begging. If you don't leave, we will fight back.”

Yao Xun let out a cold snort as she spoke, the temperature in the surroundings suddenly dropping rapidly. Asking them to hand over their lives and not struggle, were these people idiots?

“You would become enemies with the Yao clan?”

One of the other people that had them surrounded, a short and chubby woman, spoke out with a threatening tone as she looked at Yao Xun. The Yao clan was one of the four great clans, most people would prefer death over becoming an enemy of the Yao clan.

“As long as it's for Jun'er, who cares if the Yao clan becomes our enemy?”

The one who responded to the words of the woman was Yao He, letting out a loud laughter as he spoke. Enemies of the Yao clan? Why should they care if they ended up as that? The only other option was death, an option they would never accept. Yao He also guessed that they wanted to kill him and his wife so that they could show their heads to Yao Jun, to torment him. He would never allow them to do that to his son. They had several friends in the Yao clan, but Yao Jun was still the most important thing in their life to them. They also believed that their friends would understand, and even help them.

“Then so be it.”

The lanky man let out a deep sigh, and then immediately moved to attack. The earth beneath Yao He and Yao Xun started to crack and tremble, before it suddenly exploded, sending large chunks of rocks and dust flying through the air. There were civilians and houses around them, but the people from the Yao clan did not seem to care, continuing their attacks.

Rocks flew, flames raged, metal turned into sharp blades and sliced through the air, plants grew rapidly and formed various humanoid shapes that attacked the position of Yao Xun and Yao He. But before any of the attacks could reach them, a terrifying chill overtook the area, turning the entire market square into ice, even the flames that flew through the air froze.

The rocks and metal blades fell to the ground and shattered, and Yao Xun and Yao He stepped out from the dust. Yao Xun was holding a long spear made out of ice, while Yao He was holding a transparent blade that vibrated rapidly, sending out a low grating sound. Just as they were about to send out more attacks, Yao He and Yao Xun moved into action.

Yao He vanished from his previous position, appearing in front of two men who had launched flames at them. He swung out with his transparent sword, leaving behind a thin black line in the air as it passed through the two men as if it had sliced water. The upper bodies of the two men slid to the side and separated from their lower bodies, blood spraying out from the two parts.

Yao Xun's attack was just as simple. She waved the ice spear she held in her hand, causing a multitude of spears to form in the air above her. Another wave of her hand sent the spears flying, a loud booming sound ringing out as the spears broke the speed of sound. Two more people died before they got the chance to react, their bodies turning into ice and then shattering into tiny fragments when they were pierced by the spears.

“Your cultivation should only have been around the middle stage of the 4th Houtian Sky, when did you increase it to the late stage of the 5th Houtian Sky?!”

The lanky man was one of the three that had survived, and he currently wore a despairing expression. From the reports he had gotten, the highest cultivation that Yao Xun and Yao He could possibly have would be the late stage of the 4th Houtian Sky, so he had prepared accordingly. Yet the Qi that was currently radiating from the two of them was clearly from someone at the late stage of the 5th Houtian Sky, and approaching the 6th.

“Did you think we would do nothing after moving so far out here? Without strength, how would we be able to protect Jun'er?”

Yao He had a warm smile as he spoke. He and his wife had left the battlefield, but they had never stopped their cultivation, merely slowed it down. After all, even if they no longer took parts in battles, it was still necessary to have great power to protect their family if something should happen.

“Shit! Retreat and bring the information back!”

The lanky man immediately called for retreat, turning around to flee. The highest cultivation their group had were two people at the late stage of the 4th Houtian Sky, there was no way for them to win this battle. But how would Yao Xun and Yao He let them flee?

Space around the three fleeing men started to twist and distort, growing thick and heavy, impairing their movements and preventing them from moving at any pace faster than a slow crawl. With Yao He stopping them from running, Yao Xun moved in for the kill. Her spear sliced a wound into the back of the three men, her icy Qi infiltrating their bodies and freezing their blood and organs, even their Qi became completely frozen. Before long, the three men had turned into statues of ice that fell over and shattered.

“It seems we must leave this town and find someplace else to wait for Jun'er.”

Yao He looked at the ruined market square as he spoke. Several civilians had been caught up in the short battle, dying as a result, and all the houses around the market square had been destroyed. Even if they hadn't ended up as the enemies of the Yao clan, they would no longer be able to stay in this town.

“I will leave him a message that only he will understand, something he can use to find us.

Yao Xun nodded her head and dashed towards the house where they had lived after arriving in Golden Moon Town, leaving a quick message that only Yao Jun would understand. After she left the message, she picked out some clothing that they could wear, and then met up with Yao He again. Yao He activated his Qi, a silver light surrounding him and Yao Xun, and the two vanished from the town.

Yao Jun dug himself down into the ground, covering the top of his small cave with a layer of ice to prevent any snow from entering while he focused on recovering himself. While chewing on some pills and boiling some medicinal herbs to apply to his wounds, he was also rather curious how much the inside of his Demon God's Gate had changed ever since he entered this hidden realm.

He had absorbed two new Demonic beasts, Zhuyin and Zhuanxu, and had eaten the fresh meat and drunk the blood of countless other Demonic beasts, all so that he could strengthen Little Thunder and the others. He truly looked forward to leaving this hidden realm and seeing the changes.

But first he had to find Guo Luo and reach the place that was resonating with his Demon God's Gate. Yao Jun had expected the resonating to change once more, leading him to a different place after absorbing Zhuanxu. But it had not, the resonating was now pointing towards the same place it had pointed when he first entered the hidden realm, towards the center of the hidden realm.

Yao Jun swallowed a few more pills and poured the boiling mixture of herbs onto his body, letting it seep into his wounds and mix with his blood. Yao Jun closed his eyes and put almost all of his focus on moving the medicine around inside his body, coating all his wounds with the mixture to speed up the healing process. He only left a small part of his mind to keep an eye on the surroundings, making sure that he was not ambushed.

He continued to quietly recuperate for almost half a month, with most of his time spent on healing his left arm and the part where Zhuanxu had stomped down on him. He did not choose to continue moving immediately after healing, choosing to spend a few days quietly cultivating to make sure that there were no problems with his veins.

“A bit of pain, but I guess that is to be expected from fighting like that.”

Yao Jun stretched his body and enjoyed the popping sound from his joints as he muttered to himself. There was a throbbing pain coming from several parts of his body, not disappearing despite the large amount of medicine he had used to heal his wounds. But Yao Jun simply accepted this pain for the moment, considering it the price he paid for fighting in such a self destructive way.

“There's people coming? Can't stay here.”

While Yao Jun was stretching, he suddenly sensed a group of people approaching. Absorbing Zhuanxu had given Yao Jun the same abilities as Zhuanxu, one of those abilities was to use the surrounding ice to see and sense everything it came in contact with. Because of this, Yao Jun could sense that the people who were approaching were all very powerful, if he stayed in this underground cave, he would look suspicious once they found him.

Yao Jun removed the ice above him and climbed out of the cave, putting on a fresh green robe and sitting down on the ground with crossed legs and closed eyes. He had judged that he would not be able to move away fast enough to avoid being discovered, as they would be able to sense his Qi once he started using it to either move into the shadows or increase his speed. In that case, he figured it would be better to pretend like he had not noticed them, checking if they were hostile before he decided on his next course of action.

“Who is there?!”

After a few minutes of waiting, the sound of footsteps resounded over the mountain top, a vigilant shout directed towards Yao Jun as the group of people he had sensed got close enough to notice him. Yao Jun pretended to be shocked, rapidly standing up and jumping backwards, directing a wary gaze towards the group of people. This was the first time he could see what they looked like, but when he saw the group, his pupils rapidly shrinking

The group consisted of nine people, seven men and two women. Just by looking at them, Yao Jun could see that three of the people in the group came from the Yao clan, three from the Zhuang clan, and three from the Demon race. The weakest person in the group was one of the girls, with a cultivation at the early stage of the 4th Houtian Sky.

But what really caused Yao Jun's pupils to shrink, were the three people who seemed to be the leaders of this group. The first person who seemed to be a leader was a man clad in the black robes of the Yao clan, with long black hair tied into a bun, chiseled features and clear gray eyes, Yao Duan He, the person most likely to become the next Yao clan patriarch.

The second of the three leaders was someone from the Demon race, a male youth who looked like a normal human. He had long black hair tied up into a ponytail, smooth features, and fiery golden eyes that radiated disdain. Gao Zhou Wuhan, the one who was most likely to be the next leader of the Demon race, and the son of the current empress and emperor.

The final of the three leaders was a woman clad in the blue robes of the Zhuang clan. She had long and smooth blue hair, smooth and clean features, cherry red lips, and crimson eyes that constantly swept the surroundings with a curious gaze. Zhuang Shao Ju, the person most likely to be the next matriarch of the Zhuang clan.

Following Yao Duan He were two male youths with burly builds and short shaven hair, they were clad in slightly tattered Yao clan robes. Following Gao Zhou Wuhan were two male youths from the Demon race, one of them a tall and elegant youth who had yellow eyes that resembled a toad's, as well as a slight green tint to his skin. The other youth was more average looking, with shoulder long brown hair, sharp eyes that resembled a wolf's, as well as some brown fur growing on his neck and hands.

Following Zhuang Shao Ju were a male and a female youth clad in clean Zhuang clan robes. The male was a bit short, but his bare upper body showed off his muscles, he had short blue hair and vigilant green eyes. The girl had long blue hair that was shaved short at the sides of her head, a buxom body, and brown eyes that carried an enchanting expression.

“There is no need to attack! I am Song Sito Jun, just a lone wanderer!”

Yao Jun threw out another fake name as he called out, cursing his own terrible luck. First he had encountered Wei Zhong Jun, and now he had encountered these three. Now he only needed to encounter Qiao Xian Yi and he would have encountered all of the five future rulers.

“A lone wanderer? How have you managed to survive here with your low cultivation?”

One of the Yao clan youths looked at Yao Jun with a wary gaze as he questioned him. Most people at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth would not be able to survive in this frozen wasteland, either dying to the cold or dying after being attacked by the powerful Demonic beasts.

“I am able to control ice, so the cold here does not bother me, I can also dig into the ground whenever I sense a Demonic beast approaching, perfectly hiding myself.”

Yao Jun gave a quick explanation, even showing off that he could control ice and sink his own body into the ground. The Yao clan youth nodded his head, looking half-convinced.

“Hey, little boyo. We are heading towards the center of this hidden realm, what do you say to joining us?”

Just when Yao Jun thought they would move along and leave him alone, Zhuang Shao Ju opened her mouth and spoke out in a cheerful voice, causing Yao Jun to mentally curse at her.

“You want him to follow us, with that pitiful strength of his?”

Before Yao Jun could say anything, Gao Zhou Wuhan spoke out, his voice containing a mixture of disdain and confusion. Yao Jun was only at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, there was no worth in bringing him along. He might even end up being a hindrance when they reached the center of the hidden realm and discovered what had caused a commotion there recently.

“Don't be so rude, Zhou-Zhou, he might have his uses. And if he doesn't, we can just ditch him then, or use him as bait.”

Zhuang Shao Ju pat Gao Zhou Wuhan on the shoulder, speaking with a bright smile. Yao Jun felt the corners of his mouth twitch slightly upon hearing her words, especially when he heard what she called Gao Zhou Wuhan.

“I told you not to call me that.”

Gao Zhou Wuhan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Zhuang Shao Ju, his voice cold as he talked to her. Yet despite his anger, he did not lash out with an attack or do anything else, simply averting his eyes from her, so it seemed like he was not willing to battle her.

“So?”

Zhuang Shao Ju turned away from Gao Zhou Wuhan and looked at Yao Jun again, sending him a cheerful smile as she asked him once again. Had it been a normal person, she would not bother talking to them like this. But the youth in front of her perfectly matched the youth that Wei Zhong Jun had told her about last time they met, so she figured it was worth a shot to drag him along.

“How could I possibly reject such a gracious offer?”

Yao Jun resisted the urge to put on a wry smile, responding with a polite smile as he continued to mentally curse his own luck. He wanted to move along on his own, to hunt down Guo Jiahao and Guo Zhe, to find Guo Luo. But if he were to refuse Zhuang Shao Ju here, he would look far too suspicious, they might even attack him if they found him too suspicious. Yao Jun was confident he would be able to escape even if they decided to attack him, but there was no telling how wounded he would end up while doing so.

“Excellent! You can call me Senior Sister Ju, that is Zhou-Zhou, and that is Little He.”

Zhuang Shao Ju clapped her hands together with a bright smile, introducing herself and the two other leaders. Hearing how she referred to the two others, Yao Jun once more felt the corners of his mouth twitch.

“The name is Gao Zhou Wuhan, call me Zhou-Zhou and I will turn you to ash.”

Gao Zhou Wuhan turned his golden eyes towards Yao Jun, speaking to him in a cold voice. Yao Jun did not doubt that if he even joked about calling him Zhou-Zhou, Gao Zhou Wuhan would attack him with all his might.

“Yao Duan He.”

Yao Duan He spoke in a low voice, speaking the first words he had said since he arrived here. He did not even look at Yao Jun as he spoke. This was not disdain or disrespect, it was complete disregard. To someone like Yao Duan He, people at the 2nd Mortal Earth were the same as ants or air, not worth of his time.

“I am Song Sito Jun, it is nice to meet you.”

Yao Jun introduced himself once more, putting on a polite smile and giving them a bow. The other people in the group also introduced themselves, and they then started moving again, heading towards the center of the hidden realm.

Yao Jun joined the group of nine people, accompanying them as they started traveling towards the center of the hidden realm. Gao Zhou Wuhan and Yao Duan He were rather indifferent to Yao Jun's presence, only briefly talking to him whenever they had an order for him. In the entire group of nine people, it was actually Zhuang Shao Ju who was the one who was closest to Yao Jun, chatting with him and keeping him company.

Most men would be overjoyed at having a beauty like her be so friendly and close to them, but it only made Yao Jun uneasy when she got so close. To their eyes, there should be nothing remarkable about him, just a weakling at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth. So why was Zhuang Shao Ju working so hard on getting closer to him? Yao Jun did not know the answer to this question, so he always kept his guard up around Zhuang Shao Ju, ready to flee at full speed if he saw the need.

After traveling with the group for almost a week, Yao Jun and the others were currently resting for a short moment. The ground around them was filled with the corpses of Demonic beasts, their blood dying the snow in a myriad of colors. Over the last few days, the amount of times they had been attacked by hordes of Demonic beasts had skyrocketed.

After everyone caught their breaths and recuperated a little bit, they took the cores of the Demonic beasts and then continued walking. In the front were the people of the Yao clan, then came the people from the Demon Race, then the people of the Zhuang clan, and Yao Jun walked furthest in the back, keeping a bit of distance from the others.

“Stop! No one keep walking!”

After only a few minutes of walking, one of the youths from the Yao clan called out. The two youths that Yao Duan He had brought with him were almost identical, the only thing setting them apart being a mole beneath the right eye of the older twin, Yao Jutai. It was Yao Jutai who had called for the group to stop, looking at the ground a distance ahead of them with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows.

“Did you find something?”

The group stopped the moment Yao Jutai called out, Yao Duan He looking at the spot that Yao Jutai was inspecting. Yao Duan He looked away from the spot after not sensing anything, turning towards Yao Jutai and speaking out. Of everyone in the group, besides Yao Jun who was hiding it, Yao Jutai was the one who was best at finding Demonic beasts, so he acted as a scout.

“There should be something around there. Give me some time to check what it is.”

Yao Jutai shook his head slightly, carefully stepping forward and placing his hands on the ground. Yao Jutai had the ability to temporarily borrow the energy of the living beings around him to strengthen himself, so he was far better than most at sensing when there were living beings around them. The reason he had stopped the group was because he had felt a faint sense of life coming from the area ahead of them.

“We should walk around, it's a Devil Vine.”

After spending a few minutes with his hands on the ground, Yao Jutai stood up with an ugly expression on his face. Yao Jun stood in the far back, but he was still able to hear what they were saying. Upon hearing the name Devil Vine, he involuntarily cocked his head slightly, finding that he had not heard about it before.

“Tch, something like that all the way out here? Just what kind of things have happened in this hidden realm? You hear him, we have to take a small detour to get around it, lead the way, Jutai.”

Yao Duan He's face twisted slightly as he clicked his tongue and furrowed his brows. He turned towards the rest of the group and spoke, and then turned to Yao Jutai and nodded his head, indicating for him to lead the way around the Devil Vine.

“Are you curious about what a Devil Vine is? Want me to tell you?”

While Yao Jutai was leading the group in a detour around the place where he said there was a Devil Vine, Zhuang Shao Ju slowed down slightly until she walked next to Yao Jun. She looked at him with a somewhat teasing expression, speaking in a low voice and dragging out her words.

“Would you mind? I have spent most of my life wandering, so I don't really know a lot about the various types of Demonic beasts.”

Yao Jun put on an awkward expression, as if he was ashamed at the fact that he was a wanderer. With Zhuang Shao Ju getting so close to him, he raised his guard further, but he was also curious about what a Devil Vine was, to make even Yao Duan He agree to changing the course.

“Of course I don't mind. A Devil Vine is a plant type Demonic beast that can only be born in places where the land has been drenched in blood, a place where countless living beings have died. Because it is born in such a deadly environment, it has an equally deadly ability, it can absorb the life-force and Qi of other living beings. Because of this, even a weak Devil Vine is something very few people want to battle.”

Zhuang Shao Ju let out a crystal clear chuckle and started explaining what she knew about the Demonic beast known as Devil Vine. Since it could absorb life-force and Qi, even a weak on could drain some of the life-force of a strong cultivator, lowering their lifespan. No one was willing to risk losing some of their lifespan, so most people simply avoided Devil Vine's whenever they could.

“I see, thank you for enlightening me.”

Yao Jun put on an enlightened expression and nodded his head a few times. At the same time, he was also curious just how much blood had to be shed for a plant to turn into a Demonic beast. Would hundreds have to die? Or did it require thousands of people to be slain?

“No problem, Xue-Xue.”

Zhuang Shao Ju put a smile on her face as she responded, but her words did not come out from her mouth, they instead rang directly inside Yao Jun's ears, shocking him somewhat. Not just the fact that she had sent her words directly into his ears, but also what she had called him, both things shocked him slightly.

“You don't know how to send your words like this? It's very simple, you gather your Qi in your mouth and then speak the words you want to send, then send the Qi to the person who you want to hear the message.”

Seeing Yao Jun barely reacting and not responding, Zhuang Shao Ju sent her words into his ears once more, explaining to him how to do the same. Most clans and sects would teach people how to use this technique, as it made it easy to communicate secretly.

“Xue-Xue? I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand that nickname.”

Yao Jun did as she said, sending his Qi and the words directly into Zhuang Shao Ju's ears, putting on a confused expression as he tilted his head. As he was not really part of any clan or sect, relying on himself to cultivate and grow stronger, he knew very few ways of using his Qi outside of combat.

“You don't? But your name is Xue Jun, isn't it? That's what Burly Jun, Wei Zhong Jun, told me at least. He was quite descriptive about your appearance. Although, he never told me that you could use ice. Did you perhaps keep it hidden from him in case things went awry?”

Zhuang Shao Ju had an all-knowing smile on her face as her eyes stared straight at Yao Jun, her words ringing out in his ears. When he heard her mention Wei Zhong Jun and the name that he had used when he traveled with Wei Zhong Jun, Yao Jun's entire body subtly tensed up, strength gathering in his legs as he prepared himself to flee immediately depending on what was going to happen.

“No need to tense up like that, the others don't know about it. They might guess that there is something special about you, but they don't know about your actual strength and abilities.”

Zhuang Shao Ju took half a step backwards and spoke with a smile, pointing at Yao Duan He and the others who were walking ahead of them. Since the two of them were walking all the way in the back, the others were not able to see their actions, only knowing that they were chatting together, something that had already become common.

“How did you figure it out? Wei Zhong Jun should believe that I was dead.”

Yao Jun's expression dropped slightly as he spoke, his eyes growing sharp, no longer carrying the polite and somewhat awkward expression he had put on these last few days. The last thing Wei Zhong Jun had seen of him was when Yao Jun was sent flying by the powerful Demonic beast they were battling. Since it would not be normal for people to survive that, he had guessed that Wei Zhong Jun should believe that he was dead.

“He did indeed assume that you might be dead, but as he had not seen your body, he was not certain. Just knowing your name and appearance was not enough to be sure, there are plenty of appearance changing techniques after all. But seeing how unfazed you were when facing our group, I became almost completely certain that you were the same person. And you just confirmed it as well.”

seeing Yao Jun no longer bother with the pretense, at least in front of her, Zhuang Shao Ju responded with a smile. Wei Zhong Jun had seen Yao Jun burst forth with more strength than he should be able to, so he had a guess that Yao Jun might have been able to survive that final attack.

“I believe I put on a pretty scared appearance when you first showed up, though? I have even been acting nervous and scared in these last few days.”

Yao Jun raised an eyebrow when he heard Zhuang Shao Ju say that he had been unfazed when facing them. He had constantly been wearing an awkward and nervous expression while around them, so how could she say that he looked unfazed?

“Indeed, your acting is also very convincing, eight out of ten. But that is not the kind of unfazed that I am talking about. In this group you have three direct Yao clan descendants, three direct Zhuang clan descendants, and three high ranking people from the Demon race. The Demonic beast bloodline in all nine of us is incredibly potent, most normal humans or lower ranked Demonic beasts would be quivering and shaking just from standing near us. But you are completely fine. Why is that, I wonder?”

The laughter of Zhuang Shao Ju rang out in Yao Jun's ears as she raised eight fingers. After she put down her fingers, her smile grew curious as she stepped closer to Yao Jun, directly whispering into his ear as she glanced at Yao Duan He and Gao Zhou Wuhan in the distance.

Yao Jun tensed up further, the strength already gathered in his legs heading towards the bursting point. His right arm also tensed up, his sword ready to appear at any moment. At the same time he also realized his mistake. When faced with the bloodline of a powerful Demonic beast, most people would cower in instinctive fear, unable to even move or breathe properly. But Yao Jun held the Demon God's Gate, so he had no need to worry about this.

“Like I said, no need to tense up like that. I have no intention of telling the others anything. After all, we might travel together, but we are not allies. Keeping a card like you hidden for when things might go wrong is for the better. So do your best not to get found out by them.”

Zhuang Shao Ju stepped away from Yao Jun, a sweet and seductive smile on her face as she sent her words into Yao Jun's ears. She acted sweet and innocent a lot, but she had a few schemes of her own. To ensure that she would get as much as possible out of the trip they were currently on, she recognized that it was best to keep Yao Jun's strength a secret. That way she could have him help her during a moment where his strength would come in handy. If he refused to help, she could just tell Yao Duan He and the others that Yao Jun was keeping his true strength a secret, probably to ambush them while they were not paying attention.

“How much further do we have to go? Can't you tell that Burly Jun to find a better place where we can meet up? Or even better, have him come to us.”

Zhuang Shao Ju walked over to Yao Duan He and the other people from the Yao clan. The one she spoke to was the younger of the two Yao clan twins, Yao Minghao. He apparently had a power to create miniature clones he could use to scout. Using these clones, they were able to stay in contact with the other important groups in this hidden realm where most types of communication treasures didn't work.

“It will still take us around four or five more days to reach Senior Zhong Jun, but he has promised that he will take care of the Demonic beasts lurking within the valley while he is waiting for us.”

Yao Minghao spoke with a respectful and polite tone. He was part of the Yao clan, but Zhuang Shao Ju was still far stronger than him, so it was only right that he respected her.

“That's the least he can do after calling us over to such a distant place.”

Zhuang Shao Ju puffed out her cheeks as she continued to complain slightly. But walking furthest in the back, Yao Jun's expression twisted slightly. They were going to meet up with Wei Zhong Jun? Just having Zhuang Shao Ju know that he was hiding his strength was bad enough, but now Wei Zhong Jun was also going to join them. Yao Jun once more started playing with the thought of escaping.

“You look like you didn't expect us to go meet up with Burly Jun. Don't worry, he might be a brute, but he has some tact at least, he won't blow your cover. Hopefully.”

Zhuang Shao Ju's voice rang out in Yao Jun's ears while he was considering whether or not he should simply escape and travel on his own. Dealing with the increasingly common hordes of Demonic beasts would be tough, but the other option was the others possibly finding out that he was hiding his strength, and then getting suspicious at why he had so many powers.

“As for why we are meeting up with him, he sent us a message through Little Ju-Ju, telling us that he had found what seemed to be an ancient ruin containing treasures. The catch is that the ruin seems to be filled with danger, so it is going to require the strength of all of us to break through and find the treasure. Only after we have done that will we head towards the center.”

Zhuang Shao Ju's voice rang out in Yao Jun's ears again, shortly explaining why they were going to meet up with Wei Zhong Jun. She wanted to rely on Yao Jun's hidden strength to help deal with the other people of the group if things went awry, so she had to of course give him another reason to help her, other than just the fact that she knew the fact that he was hiding his strength. Because of that, she tried to share as much information as she could with him.

–

While Yao Jun and the others were traveling through the hidden realm, there was also a large amount of activity taking place outside the hidden realm. Several groups belonging to the four clans and the Demon Race had gathered outside the hidden realm, keeping a constant watch on any changes.

It was thanks to this constant watch that they had discovered an alarming fact in the recent days, the entire hidden realm was getting increasingly unstable. It had already reached a state where they feared that enough stimulus would cause the entire hidden realm to collapse, shattering the land and space around the entrance.

After the group spent another four days traveling, fighting through several swarms of Demonic beasts, they reached a valley so long and wide that it seemed like a scar on the earth itself. When Yao Jun tried to see how long the valley continued on, he found that he was completely unable to see the end of it, even with his enhanced vision.

Yao Duan He used his control over stone and earth to carve a simple set of stairs into the side of the valley, allowing the group to descend into the valley. The bottom of the valley was almost completely barren, vegetation almost unable to grow as the inside of the valley was battered by a constant and ferocious wind. Yao Jun could use the power of Sirius to divert the wind around him, but as that would arouse suspicion, he decided to use his Qi to form a defensive shield to hold back the wind.

“Senior Zhong Jun is located a short walk away from here, he should come into view after only two short hours.”

Yao Minghao pointed towards the distance as he spoke respectfully. Yao Jun raised his head slightly and chanelled his Qi into his eyes, peering into the distance. With his vision enhanced, he could see that Wei Zhong Jun was indeed waiting for them in the distance, accompanied by a group of six other people other people. What caused Yao Jun's eyebrows to twitch slightly was the fact that he could see a beautiful woman with short orange hair and kind blacke eyes, Qiao Xian Yi, the likely future matriarch of the Peng clan, waiting alongside him.

“So I really did end up meeting all of them.”

Yao Jun silently muttered to himself as he followed the group, thanks to the wind that was constantly battering the inside of the valley, no one was able to hear him. There were signs of battle all over the valley, as well as blood and some scattered corpses, spread around the inside of the valley, so it seemed like Wei Zhong Jun and the others had truly cleared the valley of Demonic beasts.

Because of this, the group was able to easily make their way through the valley and towards Wei Zhong Jun. Some of the people in the group were engaging in casual chatter, while some kept a watch for any Demonic beasts that Wei Zhong Jun might have missed. But walking in the back, Yao Jun felt that the valley was giving him a feeling that was slowly becoming more and more familiar. He could not quite point out what made the valley feel so familiar, but the feeling kept poking him at the back of his mind.

Zhuang Shao Ju was the first one to open her mouth when the group reached Wei Zhong Jun, completely ignoring Qiao Xian Yi who was standing not far away. While Zhuang Shao Ju greeted Wei Zhong Jun, Yao Jun gave the surroundings a quick check. The valley here looked the same as the part of the valley they had just walked through, but in the air not far from the group, there was a pitch black rift in the air, looking like the jagged maw of a Demonic beast.

“Would I call you here if the treasures were sub-par?”

Wei Zhong Jun raised an eyebrow at Zhuang Shao Ju's words, seemingly slightly annoyed that she would believe that he would deceive them. He swept his eyes over the group that she had brought with her, his pupils rapidly shrinking when he saw Yao Jun standing at the very back of the group. His eyes met with Yao Jun's, so Yao Jun sent him a quick signal with his eyes. Wei Zhong Jun seemed to have understood, as he moved his eyes away from Yao Jun as if he had never seen him.

“We sent in one of Sister Qiao's puppets earlier to scout out the inside, and just in the small area that the puppet was able to scout, we found a Wind Flower, Snow Lotus, and even a decently pure Void Quartz. And it is likely that all that was just found in the outskirts, can you imagine what might be located deeper inside the ruin?”

Wei Zhong Jun continued talking, explaining what they had discovered. The puppet he was talking about was in fact the corpse of person Qiao Xian Yi had killed and then controlled with her power. As for the items he mentioned, Yao Jun had no idea what any of them were, but just by looking at Yao Duan He's shocked reaction, he could guess that they were something extremely valuable.

“So what are the dangers associated? You haven't already entered, so there has to be something pretty bad inside, right?”

Yao Duan He narrowed his eyes as he swept his eyes over Wei Zhong jun and Qiao Xian Yi. Both of them were about as strong as him, so since neither had entered yet, even going as far as calling the others over, the inside was clearly extremely dangerous. Entering without knowing what they might face would be a stupid move.

“Indeed. I called it an ancient ruin, but it would be better to call it a separate hidden realm within this hidden realm. I was only able to find it by coincidence, an entrance appearing as the space here tore apart. Since an entrance suddenly opened here, it is likely that more entrances have opened all over this hidden realm, so there is no telling how many groups or Demonic beasts have wandered into the ruin.”

Wei Zhong Jun nodded his head and pointed at the rift in the air that was not far from them. Even though the five future rulers of the four clans and the Demon Race were all gathered here, there were still a lot of other people who had entered this hidden realm. And if one counted the large amount of Demonic beasts that already lived here, an untold number of people might have already entered the ruin.

“Space inside is also unstable and distorted, so it is hard to know where we will end up once we enter it, we will likely be sent to random places once more. Since the space inside is distorted and unstable, there is a danger of cracks in space or spatial storms, it is hard to know how many amongst us would be torn apart if they were caught in one of those. But this unstable space is also perfect for sensing and getting accustomed to the power of space, allowing us to react faster if we were to ever face someone who can control space.”

Spatial storms were what happened when space was shattered and the fragments sent flying. The fragments could easily become so sharp that even the hardest metal would be sliced into ribbons, only people with control over space or had truly tyrannical bodies could withstand them. Cracks in space were much the same, a place were space had been shattered and torn apart. If one were to fall into such a crack, they could either be sent to any random place, or simply end up lost in the vast void between dimensions, lost forever.

“And the main danger? If these were all the dangers, you would have already entered.”

Yao Duan He let out a slight sneer as he spoke up again, interrupting the story. He did not believe that as little danger as a few spatial storms would be enough to cause Wei Zhong Jun to call them over, so there was clearly something else that he had yet to talk about.

“The puppet we sent in earlier arrived at what seemed to be close to the center of the ruin and saw the corpse of a Demonic beast. I sent in a bit of my blood with the puppet that Sister Qiao sent in, and the bloodline of the Blood Dragon was completely suppressed in the face of that Demonic beast. If we were to acquire the blood of that Demonic beast, we could greatly strengthen our own bloodlines. But the corpse of that Demonic beast is also the reason the space inside the ruin is so unstable, so getting close to it is dangerous and challenging, the puppet was torn apart before it could get much closer to the Demonic beast.”

Wei Zhong Jun narrowed his eyes and sent a glare towards Yao Duan He, apparently annoyed that he was interrupted while talking. As he spoke about the corpse of the Demonic beast, his eyes gleamed with a mixture of desire and fear.

“Do you have any proof of this?”

Gao Zhou Wuhan was the one who spoke up this time, his voice tinged with interest. If there truly was such a Demonic beast corpse in the ruins, and he was able to devour it using the power granted to him by his Soul Beast, there was no telling how much his strength would grow.

“Sister Qiao, please show them.”

Wei Zhong Jun did not waste any more time on words, waving his hand towards Qiao Xian Yi. She waved her hand, causing an image to appear above the palm of her hand. The image showed what her puppet had seen as it walked through the ruin, clearly showing the treasures that Wei Zhong Jun had mentioned. The last thing the image showed was a terribly distorted space, but one could still see a massive body floating in the air past the distorted space, silvery-gray feathers barely visible.

“Well, what are we waiting for then? We need to acquire that corpse before anyone enters from a different entrance and snatches the corpse.”

Gao Zhou Wuhan's eyes gleamed with desire after the image cut out. His bloodlines had felt stifled just from seeing an image of that Demonic beast, so he could not imagine how powerful it would be if he were to see it in person. Gao Zhou Wuhan was not the only one who was filled with desire after seeing the Demonic beast, Yao Duan He and Zhuang Shao Ju were also making plans of their own.

The only one who had a somewhat grim face was Yao Jun, who was still hiding in the back of the group. He did not care about the treasures that had been shown in the image, but there was one thing he had seen that he could not ignore. He saw a human figure obscured by the distorted space, but the rainbow colored hair and yellow scarf that the figure was wearing made it so that there was no doubt in Yao Jun's mind who that person was. Guo Luo had entered the ruin.

“What about you, Song Sito Jun, will you join us?”

Gao Zhou Wuhan, Yao Duan He, and Qiao Xian Yi were already making their way towards the rift in space, but Zhuang Shao Ju and Wei Zhong Jun had yet to follow after them. Zhuang Shao Ju turned towards Yao Jun, speaking with a sweet smile. She spoke out the full name he had used when he introduced himself to them, allowing Wei Zhong Jun to know what he should call Yao Jun if they meet in the ruin.

“With such enticing rewards, how could I not?”

Yao Jun put on a carefree smile, as if he had not just seen Guo Luo in the image that Qiao Xian Yi had projected. Upon hearing his words, both Wei Zhong Jun and Zhuang Shao Ju's faces lit up with smiles, both joining him as they headed towards the rift. Zhuang Shao Ju was happy that Yao Jun was joining because his strength was unknown, so he might be a great help if they manage to meet up.

But Wei Zhong Jun had personally seen what Yao Jun had done when they were facing the Demonic beast in the hollow mountain. Darkness, lightning, and wind, he had effortlessly controlled three different elements, and even used a technique to temporarily raise his cultivation by two small realms, from the early stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth to the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth.

Another thing that caused Wei Zhong Jun to be dumbstruck was Yao Jun's current cultivation. Back then he had only been at the early stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, but now he was already at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth. What if Yao Jun used the same technique as back then, how far could he temporarily increase his strength? Wei Zhong Jun would always be happy to have such a person accompany him.

The three caught up with the others and stepped into the rift, space rapidly distorting around them, their vision going black as they entered the ruins.

When space stopped distorting around Yao Jun and he regained his vision, he found himself on a rocky plain. The ground was dry and barren, with jagged rocks of various sizes and shapes jutting out of the ground around him, resembling the sharp teeth of a buried Demonic beast.

“Alone once more, huh? But there seem to be people in the area at least.”

Yao Jun muttered to himself as he swept the surroundings with his gaze, checking for signs of any other people. When he swept the surroundings with his eyes, not only did he see signs of other humans, but he also spotted signs of Demonic beast activity in the surroundings. There was one rock that had its top shattered and splattered with blood that was still dripping, so someone had clearly been fighting here recently.

“That should be the unstable space, avoiding it is probably the best option. The resonating feeling has also become strange, so following it is no longer possible.”

Yao Jun could see several places around him where the air was shimmering and distorting, a low grinding noise sounding out from the distorting air. It did not take him too much thought to realize that the shimmering air was the unstable space inside the ruin. Another thing he had noticed was that the resonating feeling that came from his Demon God's Gate seemed to have become unstable as well, the location it was pointing in constantly changing, or even vanishing completely at times.

“Guo Luo was seen in the area close to the corpse of the Demonic beast, and the corpse of the Demonic beast seems to be the cause of these spatial distortions, so heading in the direction with the strongest spatial distortions should bring me in the right direction.”

Yao Jun fondled his chin and muttered to himself, turning towards the west after a bit of thinking. He did not care about the corpse of the Demonic beast, nor did he care about who acquired it in the end. All he cared about was meeting up with Guo Luo and making sure that she was safe.

Even though there were spatial distortions in the air all around him, there were clearly more of them to the west, and they only got stronger as they moved into the distance. Yao Jun did not waste any more time after making up his mind, bringing out his sword and heading towards the west. There was no telling what he would encounter here, so he felt that it was best to immediately bring out his sword and be ready for battle.

Every step Yao Jun took caused the earth beneath him to crumble and turn to dust, leaving behind clear footprints where he had stepped. Yao Jun saw several similar marks spread around the area, with most of them seemingly heading in the same direction as him. What caused him to furrow his brows was that he could see a large amount of Demonic beast footprints also heading in the same direction.

“Sounds of battle? And it seems like the ones fighting are a group of people.”

After traveling for a few minutes, Yao Jun stopped walking, furrowing his brows and straining his ears. He could hear people fighting ahead of him, but since their battle seemed to be obscured by rocks and distorted space, he was unable to see exactly what was going on, forcing him to rely on the sounds to try and figure out what was going on.

“It's on the way, so I might as well check it out. Maybe I am lucky and it's Wei Zhong Jun.”

Of all the five future rulers that Yao Jun had met, he felt that Wei Zhong Jun was the one that was the most trustworthy. Zhuang Shao Ju paid attention to him and could be considered kind, but he felt that she had several schemes of her own. The other three disregarded him so he had not interacted much with them, but he felt that they were all people that hid their own schemes beneath every smile. Wei Zhong Jun was the only one that he felt was refreshingly honest and open.

Yao Jun took a step forward, his body sinking into his own shadow as he started moving towards the area where he had heard the battle. Every 100 meters he would jump out of the shadows for a short second before sinking back into the shadows, rapidly making his way into the distance.

The area where he had heard the sounds of battle was surrounded by jagged rocks, with only enough space for a single person between each of the rocks. Thanks to this, one could make it so that they were not seen from the outside if they positioned themselves correctly. When Yao Jun reached the area and observed it from inside the shadows, his face turned cold, his eyes narrowing.

The fighting inside the circle of rocks had already ended, the losing party being a group of people clad in a large variety of robes, showing that they came from several minor sects and clans. The winning party consisted of two men clad in the robes of the Yao clan, one of them looked like a middle aged man with a short stubble and short black hair. The other one looked a bit older, wrinkles starting to appear on his face and his graying hair starting to fall out.

The two men were currently standing over three young girls, The only ones left alive from the losing party, who didn't look much older than Yao Jun. The young girls were wounded, their clothes tattered and revealing their smooth skin. The girls only had a cultivation at the late stage of the 1st Mortal Earth, while the middle aged man had reached the early stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth and the older one had reached the middle stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth. It was clear that these three girls did not have the strength to resist, so they had probably been kept alive on purpose.

“Senior Brother, I would like for you to give me that one. You know that I have always liked redheads.”

The middle aged man spoke out, his voice rather high pitched and even somewhat childish. He pointed at one of the three girls, a girl with red hair and black eyes. The eyes of the middle aged man were filled with desire, while the eyes of the girl were filled with tears and despair.

“Of course, Junior Brother. But the two others belong to me, you are not allowed to touch them.”

The older man let out a slight chuckle, patting the middle aged man on the shoulder as he spoke in a cheerful tone. His eyes landed on the two remaining girls, one had short yellow hair and blue eyes while the other one had long black hair and bright green eyes.

The two men were just about to move to grab the three girls, when the hair on the neck of the older man suddenly stood on end, a terrifying feeling of death filling his body. He hurriedly pushed the middle aged man to the side, jumping in the opposite direction as he did so. Just as the two of them moved aside in front of the confused gazes of the three girls, the ground where they had stood was carved up by an invisible blade of wind, leaving a deep scar.

“Who is there?!”

The older man let out a loud shout as he swept the area with his eyes, sweat gathering on the back of his neck. For someone to have snuck up without them noticing, it was clear that the person who had arrived was powerful. After the shout of the old man rang out, the shadows beneath one of the surrounding rocks wriggled slightly, Yao Jun stepping out of with a cold expression.

“This friend, there is no need for such hostility. I am Yao Zinxi, this is my Junior Brother, Yao Xunyue. If you are willing to leave now, I am more than willing to share one of these girls with you. All three are still virgins, so you will even be able to take their vital yin, which is greatly beneficial to cultivation.”

The older man, Yao Zinxi, wore a polite smile as he spoke and beckoned towards the three girls. He could see that Yao Jun was seemingly only at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, but he guessed that he was using a technique to hide his cultivation level.

After hearing the polite words of Yao Zinxi, the middle aged man, Yao Xunyue, wore a nervous expression, seemingly worried that Yao Jun would pick the red haired girl that he wanted. The three girls on the other hand had conflicted looks on their faces. It was humiliating to be treated like an object, but they also figured that it would be better to lose their virginity to someone young and handsome like Yao Jun, rather than to the older Yao Xunyue and Yao Zinxi.

Yao Jun did not respond to the words of Yao Zinxi, raising his arm and sending out a slash with his sword. Wind and lightning gathered around the blade of the sword and was shot towards Yao Xunyue, rapidly moving towards his neck in an attempt to decapitate him.

“Brat, do not believe that we are scared of battling you! There is no need for such hostility, it is only natural that the strong feast on the weak!”

The expressions of Yao Zinxi and Yao Xunyue twisted when they saw that Yao Jun did not respond and instead immediately moved to attack, Yao Zinxi calling out in a loud voice. Yao Xunyue took three steps backwards, the earth in front of him rising up and forming a shield that blocked Yao Jun's attack.

“This really takes me back. Not long after I started cultivating, someone else told me those exact same words. The situation back then was also very similar. I will say the same words now as I did then. If the strong feast on the weak, then I will feast on the strong.”

Yao Jun's body stopped after hearing the words of Yao Zinxi, a chuckle escaping his lips as he spoke out. Not long after he met Guo Luo and started traveling with her, he had been told very similar words by two people in a place called Ash Barrens City. They had even been doing something very similar at the time, they had been kidnapping women so that their young master could have his way with them.

Yao Jun had experienced a lot since then, but his response to those words was still the same. Yao Jun took another step forward and slashed out with his sword. Yao Zinxi and Yao Xunyue prepared to block, the earth in front of them wriggling and moving in response to their thoughts. But when the earth in front of them rose up, they were shocked to see Yao Jun's seemingly vanish into his hand.

Before they had the chance to realize what had happened, Yao Xunyue felt a sharp pain coming from his waist. He hurriedly looked down, his face turning as white as a sheet of paper when he saw what had happened. Yao Jun's sword had appeared out of the shadow of his sleeves, piercing through his wrist and into his waist.

The tip of the sword that was stabbed into his waist lit up with a crimson light, a small orb of fire appearing inside Yao Xunyue's body. The orb exploded into a wave of fire, separating Yao Xunyue's torso from his lower body and scorching his severed legs black. The fire rapidly spread upwards, swallowing his torso and turning Yao Xunyue into nothing more than a charred corpse that was slowly turning to ash.

“Please stop sir! We are people of the Yao clan, on the account of the face of our clan, please let us go!”

Yao Zinxi rapidly paled when he saw what happened to Yao Xunyue, hurriedly moving backwards and calling out in a panicked voice. Yao Xunyue was not much weaker than him, so he did not believe that he would fare much better if he faced that attack.

“Haha, once again, so similar! I will repeat the words I said back then. You are not people, you are maggots. You are a filth that taints this entire world, you should not exist!”

Yao Jun let out a loud laugh when he heard Yao Zinxi's words. Once again the situation reminded him of what had happened back in Ash Barrens City, and once again he spoke the same words he had said back then, firmly believing in them. He did not plan on giving Yao Zinxi a chance, dashing towards Yao Zinxi, a trail of violet lightning following him as he turned into a blur.

Yao Zinxi dashed backwards and waved his hand. The earth in front of him wriggled and shot upwards, large pillars forming to block Yao Jun. Once the pillars were formed, Yao Zinxi waved his hands once more, causing the dust on the ground to rise up and form a serpentine symbol in front of him. He bit down on his own tongue and spat some blood onto the serpentine symbol, imbuing it with a strange power.

The symbol rapidly grew, turning into a long crimson serpent that looked like it was made out ruby, shining splendidly in the light. The serpent let out a loud hiss and charged towards Yao Jun, who had just used his control over wind to dash through the air and above the pillars of earth.

Yao Jun merely glanced at the serpent, his lips turning into a sneer. Just as the serpent was about to bite down on him, his entire body suddenly vanished, appearing out of the shadow that the serpent cast beneath itself. Yao Jun dashed forward and grabbed onto the throat of Yao Zinxi, who seemed to weaken greatly after creating the serpent.

“...Please...no...spare us...”

Yao Zinxi let out a weak plea, struggling to get the words out of his throat as he looked at Yao Jun with tears in his eyes. When facing death, most people would quickly grow cowardly, and Yao Zinxi was no exception.

“I have killed you, just like I killed those men back then. And now I will do to you the same as I did to those men back then, something I don't really do that often.”

Yao Jun only looked at Yao Zinxi with a cold gaze as he spoke out. After his words rang out, the ancient tree located within his Demon God's Gate started to move, the branches and the leaves rustling beneath an unseen wind. A strange energy came out from the tree and left the Demon God's Gate, entering Yao Zinxi's body.

When the energy entered his body, Yao Jun could see Yao Zinxi's body rapidly withering, the crimson serpent that had gotten closer to Yao Jun withering alongside Yao Zinxi. Once Yao Zinxi's body looked like it had aged several decades in just a few seconds, the strange energy left his body and returned to Yao Jun, slowly strengthening both his and his Demonic beasts' bodies.

This was something Yao Jun had learned he could do all the way back in Ash Barrens City, but this was only the second time he had ever used it. Using this ability gave him an eerie feeling, so Yao Jun did not feel comfortable using it too often. But seeing how similar this situation was to how it was back then, he felt that it was only fitting.

“Take these, they can help with your wounds. You should find a place to hide while you recuperate. Once you are healed, head towards the east, there should be less people in that direction. Try to find an exit and leave this place, you are too weak to be here.”

Yao Jun dropped the dried up body of Yao Zinxi and took out some herbs and robes from his interspatial ring, handing them to the three girls, who were looking at him with both shocked and grateful expressions, their eyes moist with tears. After handing them the things, he did not stay around any longer, continuing to move towards the west.

Yao Jun continued to move through the rocky plain, the tall rocks slowly shrinking and giving way to dry grass. After spending a little over a day of traveling, there were barely any rocks left sticking out of the ground. The dry grass that took over for the rocks went all the way up to Yao Jun's waist, completely shrouding his legs. The grass was dry and yellow, but even without any wind, it swayed softly and gently.

The moment Yao Jun entered the tall grass, he spread his senses out as far as he could, staying on high alert as he moved. The grass only went up to his waist, but it was still tall enough to hide powerful Demonic beasts that specialized in camouflage. Even now, as he slowly made his way through the grass, he could sense several Demonic beasts lurking in the grass, watching him with a vigilant gaze.

Yet despite the fact that they were watching him with a vigilant gaze, very few Demonic beasts actually ended up attacking him. He had spotted several Demonic beasts ever since he entered the ruins, but he had only ended up being attacked by four Demonic beasts so far, and none of those Demonic beasts had reached the 2nd Mortal Earth. As he walked, he could not help but mutter in a low voice, his eyes narrowed slightly.

“What exactly are you waiting for?”

Since the Demonic beasts did not attack him, he could only assume that they were waiting for something. But he could not figure out what they might be waiting for. If they were waiting for a chance where he was open, they could just attack him during one of the times he had been attacked earlier, but they had not done so.

Yao Jun continued to slowly make his way through the tall grass, his eyes constantly sweeping the surroundings. After he spent a bit more time walking, he suddenly felt the earth beneath his feet tremble slightly, the swaying of the grass around him growing stronger. The hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood upright, a foreboding feeling filling his heart.

Yao Jun immediately stomped down on the ground, using his control over wind to create footholds of solid air he could use to jump up. But just as he placed his foot onto one of the footholds, it dissipated and vanished. Because his foot ended up hitting empty air, he lost his balance for a split second, unintentionally leaning sideways. During the split second where he lost his balance, the earth beneath him rapidly rose up, forming sharp spikes that aimed to impale him.

Yao Jun's eyes narrowed further, deciding to dodge into the shadows until he discovered his enemy. The shadows from the earth spikes extended, moving to engulf Yao Jun. But just as the shadows were about to cover him, Yao Jun once again felt a foreboding feeling fill his body, even his Demon God's Gate trembling slightly. He slammed out with his left palm, hitting one of the earth pillars and using the rebounding force to push himself away. Just as he pushed himself away, the shadows that had almost engulfed him turned into sharp spikes, piercing through the spot where he had just been.

Yao Jun landed on his side on the ground a short distance away, rolling for a short moment before he stabilized himself and sprung up. He tightly grasped his sword and swept the surroundings with his eyes, a cold expression on his face. Not just his wind had failed, but even his shadows had moved against him. He continued to sweep the surroundings with his eyes, his gaze locking onto an empty spot as he called out in a cold voice.

“Show yourself!”

After his voice sounded out, the shadows of the grass where he was looking rose up from the ground, turning into a large black door. With the door forming, Yao Jun once more felt his Demon God's Gate tremble faintly, but he ignored the feeling for the moment, as three figures were walking out of the black door. Upon seeing the three people walk out of the door, Yao Jun's pupils shrank to the size of pinholes, a somewhat twisted smile appearing on his face as he spoke out.

“You!”

Yao Jun's voice was dripping with killing intent as he looked at the three people. There were three men, with Yao Jun unable to recognize the youth who seemed to be the leader, but the two other men were people he could never forget. Soft features, clear brown eyes, black hair tied into a bun, and still clad in the same white robe he wore when he captured Yao Jun, Guo Jiahao walked out of the black door. Following next to him was Guo Zhe, clad in a tattered gray robe and with his back hunched, his face was still covered in wrinkles, his bald scalp covered in liver spots.

Guo Jiahao and Guo Zhe only glanced at Yao Jun for a short moment, their eyes devoid of emotions. After they glanced at Yao Jun, they took up position behind the youth who seemed to be the leader of the group. The leader was a male youth with masculine features and brown skin, he had short hair that was icy blue in color and his amber eyes were looking at Yao Jun with a curious expression. He was clad in a robe made out of the skin of a gray wolf, the head of the wolf placed on his right shoulder. The youth cupped his hands towards Yao Jun, speaking with a faint smile and a polite tone.

“Greetings, I am Yuan Shen. You'll have to forgive me for bringing these two, but Sister Yi said that I had to bring some of her people along, and these two were the closest ones to me. Now then, please forgive me, but I have to kill you.”

Right after his soothing voice rang out, Yao Jun once again felt the ground beneath him tremble, spikes of earth rising up from beneath his feet. Yao Jun was somewhat prepared this time, so he raised his leg and stomped down on the foot, crimson flames bursting forth from beneath his foot. But Yao Jun's expression quickly twisted when he realized that the flames had not scorched and shattered the earth spikes, but were instead trying to scorch his foot.

Yao Jun jumped backwards, temporarily ignoring the flames that were burning his foot as he dodged the spikes of earth that rose where he had just stood. The moment his feet touched the ground again, Yao Jun covered his foot with a thin layer of ice, smothering the flames. He was prepared for even his ice to backfire, but he let out a sigh of relief when he noticed that the ice seemed to follow his orders.

Yao Jun heard the sound of something moving through the air, so he rapidly raised his head, spotting two arrows made out of metal flying towards him. Yao Jun struck out with his sword, splitting the two arrows in half as he continued to dodge backwards. But just when he thought he had dealt with the arrows, the split pieces started wriggling, turning into smaller arrows that continued to shoot towards him with increased speed.

Yao Jun's expression twisted when he saw the now four arrows shooting towards him. He tried to use his wind to deflect them, but the moment he summoned the wind, it turned against him, becoming sharp blades that slashed at his throat. The earth beneath his feet started to tremble slightly, even the grass around him coiling towards him and tying up his legs, growing harder as it did so.

Hardened grass tied up his legs, metal arrows were shooting towards his chest, blades of wind were moving towards his throat, and spikes of earth pierced up from the ground in an attempt to impale him. Yao Jun's expression was solemn as ice spread from his legs, freezing the grass that was tying him up and allowing him to shatter it. Arcs of lightning coiled around his body as he pushed his speed to the max. He dashed forward and twisted his torso, moving past the spikes of earth and dodging the blades of wind that aimed at his throat.

But he was unable to dodge all the arrows, one of them lodging itself into his left shoulder. The arrow started to wriggle once it pierced into his shoulder, the tip of the arrow growing several barbs that dug into his flesh and made it hard to pull out the arrow. Yao Jun ignored the pain, his eyes locking onto Yuan Shen as he spoke out in a cold voice.

“You have a God Gate?”

Every attack that had been aimed at Yao Jun caused his God Gate to tremble faintly, a feeling he was quite familiar with. Yao Jun could easily count all the times his God Gate had trembled like that, and the one thing all those times had in common were that the trembling happened whenever Guo Luo, Yun Yantian, or Lin Ren used their God Gate around him. After hearing Yao Jun's words, a bright smile appeared on Yuan Shen's lips as he nodded his head and gave a short bow.

Yao Jun did not doubt Yuan Shen's confirmation. He firmly believed that only another God Gate would be able to cause his own God Gate to tremble like that. Yao Jun narrowed his eyes, questions rapidly appearing in his mind as he opened his mouth and spoke out.

“You wouldn't be so kind as to tell me why you have to kill me, right? Nor will you tell me about your powers or who that Sister Yi is, right?”

There were several questions in Yao Jun's mind, the most prevalent one being why this unknown person wanted to kill him. But Yao Jun knew that the odds of getting an answer to any of his questions were slim. Yuan Shen responded to Yao Jun's questions with a polite smile, prompting Yao Jun to speak up once more.

“I can at least guess a little about your powers. Fire, wind, earth, wood, metal, and darkness. There might be more, but you don't seem to be able to control ice or lightning.”

Yao Jun's fire, wind, and darkness had been used against him, so it was easy to guess that Yuan Shen could use those elements. He had also used earth spikes to attack several times, controlled the metal arrows, and then used the grass around him to tie up Yao Jun.

He might have the power to control plants, but Yao Jun guessed that it was more likely that he used the wood element to control the plants, as the wood element was one of the five main elements. In response to Yao Jun's confident statement, Yuan Shen's eyebrow twitched slightly, but he still held a polite smile as he spoke.

“What if I am just lulling you into a false sense of security?”

Yao Jun had also had the same thought, but he had quickly discarded it after mentally going over the earlier barrage of attacks. He raised his left arm, forming a small arrow of ice and surrounding it with arcs of lightning, pointing it at Yuan Shen as he shook his head and spoke.

“I doubt it. If you were able to control ice and lightning, you could have caused them to backfire on me when I used them to escape from your previous attack, most likely killing me.”

Yao Jun shot out the arrow of ice, sending it towards Yuan Shen at high speed. Yuan Shen glanced at the arrow, but he could not take control over it. He waved his hand, causing a wave of wind to smash the arrow into the ground, his polite smile fading as he spoke with an expressionless face.

“Clever.”

Yuan Shen truly meant what he said, he had not expected Yao Jun to figure out so much from simply dodging a few of his attacks. After smashing the arrow into the ground, Yuan Shen touched his interspatial ring, taking out two small axes made out of a light green metal that was decorated by a wave like pattern. With both axes in hand, he pointed them at Yao Jun, his aura rapidly rising.

“I would really prefer it if you would just let this happen peacefully. I much prefer the quiet.”

Yuan Shen wore a confident expression on his face as he spoke. Guo Jiahao and Guo Zhe were both only at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, but he had already reached the early stage of the 5th Houtian Sky. To deal with Yao Jun who was only at the late stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, that was more than enough.

Yao Jun's response to Yuan Shen's words was to grab the arrow stuck in his left shoulder, freezing it solid with ice and then shattering it, using ice to cover the wound. With the arrow out of his shoulder, he pointed his sword at Yuan Shen, arcs of lightning coiling around his body and causing his violet hair to dance.

“Sorry, but I really don't feel like handing you my life. But I would be more than happy to take yours.”

The moment his voice sounded, Yao Jun activated Crumbling The Nine Heavens, activated his own strengthening technique, and donned his black armor. Right now he only lacked a single piece to his armor, the piece covering his thighs and hips. Yao Jun's aura rapidly rose, settling at the early stage of the 4th Houtian Sky. Seeing Yao Jun's aura rapidly rise, Yuan Shen's expression changed into one of confusion as he could not help but curse out.

“What the hell is going on? No one told me about this!”

After his words sounded out, his expression grew somewhat serious as his clothing started to change. His wolf skin robe turned into a clean blue robe decorated with images of the various elements. With just a quick glance, Yao Jun was able to see fire, wind, earth, wood, metal, water, and darkness, it did not require too much thought to reach the conclusion that this was Yuan Shen's armor and these were the elements Yuan Shen could control.

Yuan Shen's aura did not rise after the robe appeared, but it grew denser and sharper, like an unsheathed blade. Yao Jun took a step forward, the grass around him turning to ash as it came into contact with the arcs of lightning that were constantly released from his body. His body shot forward like a black blur, heading directly towards Yuan Shen.

Yuan Shen was the strongest human Yao Jun had ever faced in combat, and even worse was that he faced him in a situation where the power he could use was limited to only lightning and ice. But none of that stopped Yao Jun from charging forward with his sword in hand, because he was confident in himself, confident that even if he could not grasp victory, he could at least flee.

Yuan Shen also charged forward, the earth quaking and the wind howling as he moved. The earth around Yao Jun started moving like waves, trying to push him over and ruin his balance. Blades of wind shot towards him, rending the earth wherever they touched it. A curtain of fire appeared in the air above the two of them, tongues of lames lashing down at Yao Jun, turning the earth to ash whenever they missed him.

Yuan Shen dodged into his own shadow as he got closer to Yao Jun, appearing at his left and slashing out with both his axes. Yao Jun immediately stopped his dash, stomping down onto the ground with his right foot, cracking and shattering the earth. Yao Jun slightly curled his body, pushing out his left shoulder and using the force from the stomp to close the short distance between him and Yuan Shen. Yao Jun dodged beneath the two axes, his shoulder slamming into Yuan Shen's chest and sending him flying backwards a short distance.

Yuan Shen was sent backwards, but Yao Jun's shoulder was left aching. He was not certain if it was Yuan Shen's armor or if it was his chest, but Yao Jun felt as if his shoulder had crashed into solid iron. But little did he know that Yuan Shen also wasn't feeling too good at the moment.

He realized that despite the difference in cultivation, he had been too slow to dodge Yao Jun's attack, only barely seeing how he moved. The place where they had made contact was also hurting slightly, lightning searing his flesh and a chill entering his bones. His face distorted slightly as he looked at Yao Jun, spitting out the words.

“What a good Demon God.”

After he spat out the words, Yuan Shen launched more attacks. The blades of wind grew more numerous, the tongues of flames were now accompanied by orbs that exploded into fire whenever they touched something, the roiling earth now sent out spikes of earth whenever Yao Jun's foot made contact with the ground, and even Yao Jun's own shadow started releasing tendrils that tried to pierce him.

Yao Jun's eyes were cold and solemn as he locked onto Yuan Shen and dashed towards him, constantly dodging the attacks that were sent towards him. He now realized how it felt when people faced him and were attacked by a barrage of different attacks, even having to be wary of their own shadows. But Yao Jun still had one advantage, his speed was faster than Yuan Shen's, allowing him to dodge most of the attacks that came towards him.

Yuan Shen did not speak any more words, dashing towards Yao Jun. Yao Jun was faster than him, but as long as he got close enough and could barrage Yao Jun with enough attacks, he was confident that he could wound him. Another reason he was confident was that Yao Jun had to rely on special techniques to resist him. The techniques would run out sooner or later, and then Yao Jun would be unable to resist him.

As Yuan Shen approached him, Yao Jun stabbed out with his sword, lightning and ice coating the blade as he used the first technique he had learned, One Sword To Free The Heart. Yuan Shen's eyebrow twitched slightly when he noticed how strong the piercing power of the stab was so he hurriedly slashed out with one of his axes.

The axe hit the sword, pushing it to the side as ice and lightning were released by the tip of the sword, shooting into the distance. The lightning scorched the earth and turned the grass to ash, while the ice turned into several arm thick spikes of ice forming a line into the distance.

When the two weapons made contact, the space around them seemed to be unable to support the force, as it released a loud cracking sound, almost shattering. Had they been in the outside world, this would have been impossible, but the space inside these ruins was already unstable, so cracking space was much easier. Luckily, the cracks did not expand, rapidly shrinking and vanishing.

Had Yuan Shen been fighting a normal person, he would already have used his control over metal to use the person's own weapon against them. But he had early on realized that he was unable to take control over Yao Jun's sword, as it did not seem to be made out of metal.

Having used one axe to intercept the sword, Yuan Shen used the chance to slash out with his other axe. The axe was swung towards Yao Jun, accompanied by attacks that surrounded Yao Jun from every angle. Yao Jun sent out an upward punch with his left arm, hitting the axe from underneath and pushing it up. The axe slid past the top of his helmet, an orb of fire hitting his back and exploding, sending a burning pain through his body.

Yao Jun used the force from the explosion to push himself forward, even closer to Yuan Shen. Both of Yuan Shen's hands were still busy with finishing their previous movements, so he could only use his legs to try and block Yao Jun. But before Yuan Shen could raise his knee in an attempt to hit him, Yao Jun stomped down on the ground and used the resulting momentum to halfway spin his body, kicking at Yuan Shen with his free leg.

Yao Jun's right ankle hit Yuan Shen's waist, causing his body to involuntarily curl up and be sent flying to the side, a chill entering his organs from the point where he was kicked. As his body was sent flying, he heard a slight chuckle coming from Yao Jun.

“Sorry, but I can't play too much with you just yet. Just wait for me to raise my cultivation a bit more, then I will be sure to pay you back in full.”

Several pillars of earth rose up from the ground, forcibly stopping Yuan Shen's body from flying further as he rapidly raised his head. But at that point, he realized he was already too late. Yao Jun's body vanished into one of the ice spikes that appeared after he unleashed his earlier sword stab, reappearing out of the spike closest to Guo Jiahao and Guo Zhe.

Before Yuan Shen even had the time to blink, Yao Jun sliced off the arms and legs of the two people and froze up the wounds with ice. He then grabbed the both of them and sped off towards the west, only leaving behind a faint trail of lightning that rapidly vanished. Yuan Shen's expression was volatile as he looked towards where Yao Jun had vanished. Despite being able to control most of the elements, he had been completely unable to stop Yao Jun from fleeing. Even worse, Yao Jun had stolen away the two people that Sister Yi had told him to bring along.

Yao Jun continued to charge towards the distance with all his might, not even stopping when he had lost sight of Yuan Shen. While they had indeed been able to fight evenly for a short while, Yao Jun could not keep his strengthening techniques active at all times. At best, he would have been able to keep fighting for another five minutes.

While running, he lowered his eyes to look at the now limbless Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao. Despite having lost their arms and legs, their eyes showed no fear or pain, they were simply emotionless and calm. Yao Jun continued to run until his strengthening techniques ran out, and then quickly dug a cave down into the ground, covering the walls with ice to prevent it from caving in.

In these five minutes of full speed dashing, he had already covered more distance than he had by walking ever since he entered the ruins. He covered the top of the cave with a layer of ice, only leaving a few small holes to allow air to enter the cave. He then used wind to push some earth over the sheet of ice, covering everything but the air-holes, making the underground cave almost invisible. It was only upon doing this that Yao Jun sat down on the ground and took several deep breaths.

His armor and sword vanished into his body, revealing his bloody back that was missing a small chunk of meat. Yao Jun had only been hit by a single one of the exploding orbs, but that alone was enough tear a piece of meat out from his back and wracking his body with pain. Yao Jun took out a large amount of medicinal herbs and Demonic beast blood from his interspatial ring, rapidly boiling it into a coarse paste that he applied to his back. The paste was boiling warm and stung fiercely, but Yao Jun was able to let out a deep breath when he felt the medicinal strength start seeping into his body. With the paste applied to his back, he turned his eyes towards Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao, speaking out in a cold voice.

“Where is your interspatial ring? How did you enter this hidden space? Who is this person known as Sister Yi?”

When he cut off their arms and legs, Yao Jun had noticed that neither Guo Zhe or Guo Jiahao had worn their interspatial rings. Guo Jiahao had taken Yao Jun's old interspatial ring, the one containing the sword he was given by his father as well as the clothing his mother had made for him. Those were things he had to get back, so seeing that Guo Jiahao was not wearing his interspatial ring made Yao Jun rather angry.

He was also curious how two people who should be on the Guanyu continent were able to enter this hidden realm, which was located so far away from them. But the main question he wanted answered was still who the person known as Sister Yi was. Since she was able to order someone with a God Gate around, it was clear that she was very powerful. While he was asking his questions, Yao Jun also unleashed his mental energy, digging it into the brains of Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao, forcing them to answer.

“Our interspatial rings have already been taken by Mistress Yi for safekeeping. We were able to enter this hidden realm thanks to the grace of Mistress Yi, who brought us along when she left the Guanyu continent. Mistress Yi's name is Qiao...”

Guo Jiahao's voice was hoarse and trembling, his words stopping several times as he seemed to struggle to resist Yao Jun's mental energy. Hearing that the interspatial rings were kept by the person known as Sister Yi, Yao jun's expression could not help but turn a bit grim.

Guo Jiahao had only just begun to mention the name of Sister Yi, when blood started pouring out from the ears, eyes, and nose of Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao. Before they managed to finish the name, their eyes turned dull and lifeless, their mouths hanging open as they laid dead on the ground. Yao Jun's expression was rather dark as he looked at the corpses, a name escaping from his mouth.

“Qiao Xian Yi.”

Guo Jiahao had been unable to finish the name, but Yao Jun had already heard enough. If it was just her being called Mistress Yi, or even her surname being Qiao, both could be called coincidences. But when both were added together with the fact that Qiao Xian Yi was known for having a power that could control other humans, it became too much of a coincidence for Yao Jun to believe it.

Yao Jun let out another deep breath and calmed his mind, putting his focus on recuperating as he felt a headache approach him. The future matriarch of the Peng clan, as well as the holder of a God Gate. He now had two enemies who were trying to kill him, and even worse was that he had no idea why they wanted to kill him. He took another deep breath and put the thought away for the moment. It did not matter why they wanted to kill him, what mattered was that he was too weak to deal with them. He needed strength, strength greater than what he had at the moment.

While Yao Jun was focusing on recuperating, time slowly passed, more and more people entering the ruins and heading towards the deepest part. With each day that passed, the distortions that were present within the ruins were getting more and more numerous, several groups who were careless while battling ending up swallowed by spatial rifts that they created by using too much strength.

After spending a few days recuperating in silence, Yao Jun opened his eyes again and let out a deep breath. Despite a small piece of meat missing from his back, a few days of recuperating had been enough for him to completely heal it, bringing him back to his peak condition. It was not only the wound on his back that had healed over these few days, even the scar that Guo Zhe had inflicted on his chest with his poison had been healed, completely vanishing. Yao Jun had promised himself that he would keep the scar until he managed to kill Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao, so that he would not forget what they had done to him. Now that he had killed them both, there was no longer a need for him to keep the scar.

He stood up, stretching his body and producing a few snapping sounds from his joints as he moved. He only swept the small cave with a quick glance before he removed the ice and earth that covered the opening of the cave, jumping out of it. He used wind to push loose earth into the cave, completely filling it up and burying Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao. Yao Jun swept the surroundings with his eyes, furrowing his brows when he saw that the amount of spatial distortions had increased greatly. A slight mutter escaped from his lips as he cast his eyes towards the west.

“Doesn't look like I can afford to move slowly, gotta find Luo'er before the spatial distortions get any worse.”

With his mind made up, Yao Jun sped towards the west. He did not activate his strengthening techniques, but even then his speed was already faster than most people around his cultivation level. The landscape around him turned into a blur as he moved, making sure to take detours around the spatial distortions he encountered.

Yao Jun continued to move at full speed until he spotted a massive distortion in space in the distance. The distortion was far fiercer than the ones he had seen up to now, and it covered an area that could only be called titanic, looking like a pillar that ascended into the heavens. Even from the distance he was at, Yao Jun could clearly see the massive body covered in silvery-gray feathers present within the distortion.

Surrounding the massive distortion was a ruined city built out of strange yellow stone, the structures following a spiral architecture that Yao Jun had never seen before. As he got closer, Yao Jun swept the part of the city he could see with his eyes, spotting several groups of people that had already settled down in some of the buildings. While sweeping a particular part of the city with his gaze, his eyes suddenly brightened, his speed drastically increasing as he activated his lightning technique.

“Luo'er!”

Her green robe was a bit tattered, her yellow scarf dirty and torn, even her hair and body were rather dirty, but he could still easily recognize his Guo Luo. As he moved towards the city like a bolt of lightning, bringing with him the sound of muffled thunder, he also entered a highly alert state. He had not seen Qiao Xian Yi or Yuan Shen, but there was no telling who might be under Qiao Xian Yi's control.

He had also noticed that Guo Luo was walking with Wei Yating and Wei Zhong Jun, two people he had never expected her to be acquainted with. Wei Zhong Jun was most likely not going to do anything to Guo Luo, but Yao Jun refused to risk it. He entered the ruined city and dashed directly towards Guo Luo, only stopping when he was right next to her.

“Luo'er!”

Yao Jun directly picked her up in a tight hug, even spinning around once to dispel the remainder of his momentum. Guo Luo had immediately realized who was hugging her so she was still fine, but Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating could not help but be shocked. They realized that they had both been almost completely unable to see Yao Jun as he dashed towards them, with only Wei Zhong Jun being able to catch a glimpse of Yao Jun as he got closer to them. Looking at Yao Jun who was happily hugging Guo Luo, Wei Zhong Jun could only let out a somewhat helpless smile as he spoke.

“Why is it that you keep giving me new surprises whenever I see you?”

Wei Zhong Jun spoke out, but could only let out another helpless smile when he realized that he had been completely ignored. Yao Jun continued to hug Guo Luo, completely ignoring the fact that she was dirty. When his gaze landed on the piece of her scarf that she was using to cover her left eye, his voice could not help but turn icy cold.

“Luo'er, what happened to your eye? Who did that to you?”

Not just his voice, but even the surroundings turned cold when Yao Jun spoke. Someone had completely ruined his Luo'er's left eye, how could he not be absolutely furious. Guo Luo looked at the furious Yao Jun, her eye turning red and moist as she looked at him.

They had been separated for so long, with both not knowing what might have happened to the other, she had been constantly worried about him. She wiped away the tears in her eyes, shaking her head as she gave a short explanation about her missing left eye.

“It was a Demonic beast, but I have already killed it.”

Yao Jun continued to stare at the cloth covering her left eye for a short moment, before his eyes swept over the rest of her body. He could see traces of dried blood, new scars and even a few wounds that were somewhat fresh. He once more hugged her tight, resting his head on her scalp as he softly whispered.

“I'm sorry. Had I been more alert, we would never have had to enter this place.”

Guo Luo leaned her head against Yao Jun's chest for a short moment, greedily absorbing the warmth that it brought. But at the same time, she could also feel how hard his chest was, how covered in scars it was after all of his hard training and battles. She pushed herself away from his chest and used her knuckles to hit him on the head. After hitting him on the head, she spun her body around once, as if she was trying to show off, and spoke out with a bright smile.

“There is no need to worry about that, dummy. I am perfectly fine, aren't I? And look, my cultivation is now higher than yours!”

It was only when Guo Luo spun her body around and mentioned it that Yao Jun actually noticed her cultivation level, late stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth, an entire realm above Yao Jun. After his initial shock dissipated, he could not help but as her in a slightly pained voice.

“Why did you enter these ruins?”

How could Yao Jun not know how Guo Luo had raised her cultivation so quickly? She must have killed countless Demonic beasts, maybe even people, and absorbed their mental energy. How many battles did she have to face, how many wounds did she have to suffer? Guo Luo wore a helpless smile as she responded, pointing at Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating who were standing somewhat awkwardly at the side.

“It was an accident, an entrance opening next to me during battle and swallowing me. I thought about leaving, but I noticed that there were several strong Demonic beasts here, so I thought about finding any that would be good for you. I met these two along the way and we started traveling together. When I mentioned you, it turned out that they also knew you, so we decided to wait here for you.”

Yao Jun turned away from Guo Luo, his eyes landing on Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating. He took a step towards them and dipped into a bow, speaking in a gratified voice.

“Thank you for taking care of Luo'er. You have my gratitude.”

Yao Jun did not know if anything happened while they traveled together, but just the presence of Wei Zhong Jun was enough to deter most Demonic beasts or other cultivators from even thinking about trying anything. Wei Zhong Jun nonchalantly waved his hands at Yao Jun, tilting his head slightly as he questioned.

“Don't bother, we only did what we felt was right. But really, you scare me more and more every time I see you. Tell me, was that the limit of your speed.”

When Wei Zhong Jun thought about the speed Yao Jun showed when he approached them, his eyes could not help but narrow somewhat. He had to admit that if he were to battle against Yao Jun and he used that speed, he might not be able to prevent Yao Jun from fleeing. Yao Jun merely responded with a faint smile, changing the subject.

“Have you seen Qiao Xian Yi or a youth with brown skin and blue hair?”

The youth he was asking about was Yuan Shen, but he guessed that Wei Zhong Jun might not know who we was talking about if he just used the name. He had not spotted Qiao Xian Yi or Yuan Shen earlier, but that might just be because they were hiding. Wei Zhong Jun slightly furrowed his brows after hearing Yao Jun's question, rapidly searching his memories for anyone that fit the description. In the end, he shook his head and pointed at the massive spatial distortion ahead of them.

“A youth with brown skin and blue hair? Not that I can remember. Qiao Xian Yi I do know where is however. This ruined city goes the entire way around that spatial distortion, Qiao Xian Yi, Yao Duan He, and Zhuang Shao Ju are all in a part of the city that is located across this spatial distortion. If you want to meet them, you will have to wait a few days.”

Yao Jun could not help but furrow his brows and narrow his eyes after hearing Wei Zhong Jun's answer. Yuan Shen's whereabouts were unknown, but at least he knew where Qiao Xian Yi was. He turned his eyes towards the massive spatial distortion, slightly tilting his head.

“Is something going to happen?”

Since Wei Zhong Jun said that he would have to wait a few days if he wanted to meet Qiao Xian Yi, it sounded like something was going to happen in a few days. And since everyone was gathered here, he guessed that it had something to do with the spatial distortion. Wei Zhong Jun nodded his head, once again pointing at the spatial distortion.

“You must have noticed that the spatial distortions in these ruins are getting more numerous. That is because this massive spatial distortion is slowly weakening. In a few days, it will completely vanish. At that time, everyone will move to acquire a little piece of that massive body. Will you join us then?”

The way Wei Zhong Jun saw it, if Yao Jun was willing to help him, they would stand a much better chance at acquiring something from the corpse of the Demonic beast. Before Yao Jun had the chance to think about his answer, Guo Luo stepped forward and spoke up with a bright smile.

“We will.”

Yao Jun raised an eyebrow at Guo Luo's proclamation, but he did not say anything against it. Since she had said it, she clearly had a plan in mind. And since it was Yao Jun's fault that she had been forced into this hidden realm, even losing her left eye, he wanted to go along with whatever she was planning. Wei Zhong Jun's face lit up with a smile as he and Wei Yating cupped their hands, bidding the two farewell.

“Excellent! I am certain that the two of you have things you wish to talk about, so the two of us won't disturb you any more.”

With the two of them leaving, Guo Luo grabbed Yao Jun's hand and brought him to a secluded house that was still mostly intact. She brought him to what seemed to be the room where she had lived while staying in this ruined city, a large room containing a makeshift bed, a table, and two chairs. Once the two entered the room and she was sure that no one else could hear them, she told Yao Jun what she knew.

“Jun'er, that Demonic beast in there is not dead. I met it not long after I entered this hidden realm, it protected me and told me where to go. It reminds me of Little Gray, so it might be from a race related to him. If we are lucky and he is willing to help you, we might be able to strengthen Little Gray.”

The Demonic beast resting inside the spatial distortion was the titanic bird that had helped Guo Luo shortly after she entered the ruins, so she knew that it was not dead. Hearing her words, Yao Jun could not help but be shocked. It was still alive? Despite being inside such fierce spatial distortions? To survive something like that, exactly how strong was that Demonic beast?

Yao Jun and Guo Luo completely shut out the outside world after they entered the secluded house. For the few days before the spatial distortion would vanish, neither of them left the house, spending every moment together, telling each other about what they had experienced while they were separated.

One of the first things Yao Jun did was create and melt some ice, allowing the two of them to share a bath and clean themselves. His heart ached when he looked at the hole where her left eye should be, but he had no medicine that could fully regrow an entire eye. Guo Luo told him not to worry about it, but he made a solemn vow to search the whole world for something that would let him regrow her eye.

Guo Luo told Yao Jun about her encounter with the titanic beast, her meeting with the first holder of the Illusion God's Gate and the power she acquired, told him about the battles she faced and the people she met. Yao Jun told her about what he had learned about Qiao Xian Yi and Yuan Shen, him killing Guo Zhe and Guo Jiahao, and finally about his two new Demonic beasts, Zhuyin and Zhuanxu.

The two spent a few peaceful days of passion and quiet love, until the entire ruined city suddenly shook, a loud screeching sound digging into the ears of everyone who was currently located inside the ruined city. Yao Jun and Guo Luo both realized what this meant, so they quickly stopped what they were doing and left the ruined house. Shortly after leaving the ruined house, they met up with Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating, who were heading towards them.

“Yo! Looking nice and healthy there! Ready for what is about to happen?”

Wei Zhong Jun wore a bright smile on his face, the meaning behind his words causing Guo Luo to blush slightly. Yao Jun nodded his head to his question, his eyes turning towards the massive distortion, which was now trembling fiercely. When he strained his eyes to the utmost, he was also able to see that the titanic figure inside the distortion was moving slightly, causing him to mutter out in a low voice.

“Things are going to get really chaotic soon.”

Wei Zhong Jun gave a solemn nod to Yao Jun's words, thinking he was talking about the battle that would ensue when everyone tried to grab a piece of the corpse. The spatial distortion continued to tremble for a few minutes, until the bird inside the spatial distortion suddenly spread its wings and let out an ear-piercing screech that sounded like the fabric of space itself was torn.

The spatial distortion suddenly vanished, flashing through space at speeds so fast that no one could see. With the spatial distortion vanishing, everyone was able to see the titanic bird that was now floating in the air. Wings so large that they could cover the sky, silvery-gray feathers that seemed to shimmer in the light, and ghastly gray eyes that looked like they could see right through a person.

With the spatial distortion disappearing and everyone being able to see the bird, a shocked silence descended onto the city. It was likely that there was no one besides Yao Jun and Guo Luo who had known the fact that the figure inside the spatial distortion was alive. While the silence reigned, the eyes of the bird swept the ruined city around it, its majestic voice ringing out for everyone to hear.

“You have come to acquire something from me? Then show me that you deserve to acquire it, show me your might!”

After its words sounded, the space around the bird started to ripple like water, countless Demonic beasts walking out of the ripples and swarming towards the ruined city. The cultivators did not require too much time to react, loud shouts and sounds of battle quickly resounding. Wei Zhong Jun also hurriedly gathered himself, talking in a hurried voice.

“We have to hurry! Try not to stray too far away from each other!”

After he spoke, he quickly started charging towards the Demonic beasts, Wei Yating following close by. Yao Jun's eyes met with Guo Luo, the both nodding at each other before they dashed after Wei Zhong Jun. It had looked like the bird spoke to everyone, but Yao Jun knew better. Just like the human shape Demonic beast he had encountered in the hollow mountain, the words were spoken to him. It was he who had to show his might as the Demon God.

Yao Jun brought out his own pitch black sword, while Guo Luo brought out her own crystalline sword. Side by side the two charged forwards, quickly catching up with Wei Zhong Jun. The horde of Demonic beasts ahead of them contained Demonic beasts of all sizes and shapes, a few even seemed like they had been pulled out of water mere seconds ago. But the one thing they all had in common was that none of the Demonic beasts had a cultivation that had reached the 7th Xiantian Heaven.

Yao Jun let Wei Zhong Jun take first charge into the horde of Demonic beast, straying a little behind him with Guo Luo. He had to be careful that he was not ambushed by Yuan Shen and Qiao Xian Yi, so he was content with lagging behind a bit for the moment.

Since none of the Demonic beasts had a cultivation that was higher than Wei Zhong Jun, he was charging forward like a fish in the water, none of the Demonic beasts around them able to stop him. Guo Luo followed next to Yao Jun, attacking any Demonic beasts that got too close, killing them before Yao Jun had the chance to do anything.

Despite hearing her explain about her strength, he was still shocked when he saw it. Her sword left behind a blur as it moved, nearly impossible to see when she swung it at full speed. Some of the Demonic beasts that attacked them had hard scales or carapaces, but nothing was able to stop her sword from cleaving the beasts apart.

Even more terrifying was it when some of the Demonic beasts that were slashed by her sword started to fall apart, turning into small orbs of light that blew away like dandelions in the wind. How would one even defend against something like that if they did not know what it was? Yao Jun could only let out a sigh, each of the God Gates truly had something about them that was terrifying.

With Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating in front, and Guo Luo at his side, Yao Jun was able to move forward with ease, vigilantly sweeping the surroundings. The group continued to make their way through the horde of Demonic beasts, slaying an unknown amount of Demonic beasts. But no matter how many they killed, the space around the titanic bird would just ripple and unleash more Demonic beasts upon them.

The closer they got to the titanic bird, the stronger the Demonic beasts they faced got, forcing the party to slow down their speed and focus a bit more on defense. It was just after Wei Zhong Jun's fist slammed into the chest of a Demonic beast that looked like a large bird with three arms growing out of its waist that Yao Jun's eyes noticed something, hurriedly calling out.

“Dodge backwards, beware the shadow!”

Wei Zhong Jun did not quite understand why Yao Jun called out, but he hurriedly grabbed Wei Yating and jumped backwards. Just after he jumped backwards, the shadow of the large Demonic beast wriggled, chains of darkness shooting towards the spot where he had just stood a split second ago. Wei Zhong Jun landed next to Yao Jun, a grim expression on his face as he looked at the chains of darkness. Had it not been for Yao Jun's warning, he and Wei Yating would have likely been trapped by them.

After the chains missed, the shadows extended and grew into a large door. Four people walked out of the large door, stopping a short distance away from Yao Jun and the others. After the four people stepped out of the door, it seemed like the Demonic beasts had been given an order, as they started going around Yao Jun's group and the four other people. Yao Jun's eyes were narrowed as he looked at the four people, a cold voice escaping his mouth.

“Qiao Xian Yi, Yuan Shen. Even Yao Duan He fell under your control?”

Yao Jun recognized three of the four people, they were Qiao Xian Yi, Yuan Shen, Yao Duan He, and one unknown female from the Demon Race. Looking at Yao Duan He, Yao Jun could not help but slightly raise an eyebrow. Looking at the emotionless gaze of Yao Duan He, it was clear that he had fallen under the control of Qiao Xian Yi. Whether he had always been controlled by her or if she had just managed to do it recently, Yao Jun did not know. Yuan Shen was looking at Yao Jun with a ferocious expression, but Qiao Xian Yi still wore a kind smile as she spoke out.

“I just got lucky, it is nothing really. I hate to ask this, but would you mind just dying quietly so that we can complete our mission quickly?”

After hearing her question, which was very similar to what Yuan Shen had said to him before the two of them started fighting, Yao Jun let out a mocking smile, pointing his sword at Yuan Shen.

“Did Yuan Shen not tell you what I told him when he asked me that?”

Yuan Shen's expression sank slightly after hearing Yao Jun's words. The fact that Yao Jun had managed to escape from him back then, with him being completely unable to stop him, was something that still annoyed him. Qiao Xian Yi waved her hand and stopped him from stepping forward, speaking out with a sigh.

“So we will have to fight? Even though we are quite a bit stronger than you? Is that not just foolishness?”

Yao Jun did not get the time to give his response, a loud voice coming from next to him as Wei Zhong Jun stepped forward, crossing his hands in front of his chest as his eyes locked onto Qiao Xian Yi.

“What is wrong with being a bit foolish? Qiao Xian Yi, I don't know what sort of grudge you have with Brother Jun, but I owe him a little debt, so I will have to stand against you.”

Yao Jun was rather surprised at Wei Zhong Jun's words, but what he didn't know was that Wei Zhong Jun had only been able to escape from the hollow mountain because of the one strike Yao Jun had helped him deliver back then. Had it not been for that attack wounding the Demonic beast, he and Wei Yating would have died in the hollow mountain.

Qiao Xian Yi looked at Wei Zhong Jun with a calm gaze for a few moments before she nodded her head. She waved her hand at Yao Duan He and the woman from the Demon race, pointing at Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating.

“Very well, it seems like you won't understand the truth if it isn't shoved down your throat. The two of you stop those two, we will deal with the targets.”

Yao Duan He and the woman from the Demon Race nodded their heads and immediately charged towards Wei Yating and Wei Zhong Jun, the earth trembling as pillars of earth shot skyward, pushing Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating backwards and away from Yao Jun and Guo Luo. Yao Jun's eyes narrowed as he looked at Yuan Shen and Qiao Xian Yi, a soft voice that only Guo Luo could hear leaking out from his mouth.

“I won't be able to keep fighting for too long, at most around six or seven minutes. We need to focus on finding a chance to either wound them or finding a chance to flee, ignore everything else.”

Guo Luo gave a slight nod of her head, not saying anything as she looked at the two opponents with a serious gaze. One at the peak of the 6th Houtian Sky, and one at the early stage of the 5th Houtian Sky. There was nearly no chance for the two of them to beat these opponents, they could only focus on finding a chance to flee. After Wei Zhong Jun and Wei Yating were forced away, Qiao Xian Yi placed her gaze on Yao Jun and Guo Luo, dipping into a graceful bow as she introduced herself.

Yao Jun did not even get the chance to be shocked at the fact that another person with a God Gate had appeared to kill him, because Yuan Shen sprang into action the moment Qiao Xian Yi finished talking. The shadows beneath Yao Jun and Guo Luo started wriggling, turning into sharp spears that shot towards them.

Yao Jun pushed Guo Luo to the side, his armor appearing on his body as he instantly activated both his strengthening techniques and entered his strongest state. Guo Luo also activated her own armor, a crystalline armor that was white as snow appearing on her body, covering everything but her legs.

Yao Jun dashed forward like a furious bolt of lightning, his sword slashing down at Qiao Xian Yi's head. Since Qiao Xian Yi was the strongest of the two enemies, Yao Jun felt that it was only natural that he would be the one to deal with her. Facing Yao Jun's attack, Qiao Xian Yi's eyebrows pricked up slightly. She had heard that Yao Jun was fast, but she had not expected him to be this fast.

Her Peng clan robe was quickly covered by her own armor, a graceful dress that was deep orange in color, emphasized her chest, and ended in a short and frilly skirt. It was a type of clothing that Yao Jun had never seen before, but now was not the time to appreciate it.

Two silver gloves appeared on Qiao Xian Yi's hands, meeting the sword of Yao Jun. When the sword made contact with the gloves, a cracking sound rang out as space around the two weapons shattered, revealing a small black tear that released a strong suction force. The two quickly separated and the black tear vanished, but Yao Jun still called out to Guo Luo to remind her.

“Space is highly unstable, be very careful, Luo'er!”

Guo Luo was currently facing Yuan Shen, so she only let out a small sound to respond to him. She clearly had an easier time fighting Yuan Shen than Yao Jun had when he fought him. She had spread out small illusions within a 200 meter area and was able to freely move between them, dodging almost all of Yuan Shen's attacks. As for the weaker attacks that sometimes reached her, they would turn into small orbs of light and blow away in the wind before they could hit her.

Yao Jun could not help but be somewhat spellbound as he looked at her fight. In the time he had not seen her, she had grown so strong. A slight smile appeared on his face, but it quickly vanished when he turned back to face Qiao Xian Yi, who was looking at him with a kind smile. While looking at her, he narrowed his eyes and asked her a question.

“The interspatial ring of Guo Jiahao, where is it?”

Guo Jiahao said that he had given his interspatial ring to Qiao Xian Yi, so the items Yao Jun were looking for should be with her. Qiao Xian Yi looked slightly confused at Yao Jun's question, tilting her head as she responded, seemingly not in a hury to fight.

“His interspatial ring? Why would I still have that? I have already destroyed it long ago.”

Yao Jun's eyes narrowed dangerously when he heard her response. Within that interspatial ring were the sword given to him by his father, as well as clothing his mother had made for him. His voice was cold and sharp as he spoke out again.

“And the contents?”

Qiao Xian Yi furrowed her brows after hearing his question. She could not understand why Yao Jun was so interested in the interspatial ring of someone like Guo Jiahao. From the strength he had shown so far, it would not be a problem for him to acquire better treasures than Guo Jiahao could ever get.

“Of course destroyed alongside the ring. Why are you so interested in his interspatial ring?”

Yao Jun did not respond to her question, charging forward with arcs of lightning trailing behind him. The sword his father had given him, the clothing his mother had made for him, destroyed? That sword had been the first gift his father had ever given him, now how would he face his father and tell him that the sword was destroyed?

Yao Jun's eyes glanced at Yuan Shen, who was furiously trying to hit Guo Luo with his attacks. Seeing that Yuan Shen would not have the time to interfere, Yao Jun decided to make his move. Qiao Xian Yi sent out a punch towards Yao Jun, space around her fist rippling and tearing.

Yao Jun's eyes narrowed as the wind around him howled, solidifying in several places. Fast as lightning, Yao Jun jumped up and used the hardened air as footholds, jumping over Qiao Xian Yi's attack and arriving above her. While above her, he leaned his body backwards and spun around, sending a slash towards the top of Qiao Xian Yi's head.

As the sword approached her head, a human suddenly appeared above Qiao Xian Yi, a male youth with emotionless eyes that slashed out with a sword to block Yao Jun. Just as the two attacks were about to make contact, Yao Jun's sword vanished into the shadow of his own hand, appearing out of the shadow cast by the human that had suddenly appeared.

Qiao Xian Yi bent her knees and crouched down, dodging the slash that was aimed at her head. While she was dodging his attack, Yao Jun faced the sword that was slashed at him, grabbing onto it with his left hand. The sword was made out of normal metal, so he grasped it tightly and shattered it. Once the sword shattered, he swung his left fist towards the head of the human, caving in the youth's skull and killing him on the spot.

After killing the youth, Yao Jun once more hardened the air in certain spots, using it as footholds as he charged towards Qiao Xian Yi, who had dashed a short distance away. Her cultivation was higher than his, but her God Gate was not specialized for fighting, it was more focused on controlling others and creating followers.

Yao Jun ran through the air, solidifying it as he ran and using the various footholds to rapidly change his positions and attack Qiao Xian Yi from strange angles. If he was facing Yuan Shen, he would have only been able to use ice and lightning, severely limiting him in what he could do and how he could move. But now he was facing Qiao Xian Yi and her human puppets, so he could fight as he wished.

Qiao Xian Yi continuously brought out human puppets to block Yao Jun, forcing him to fight them rather than battling her. Yao Jun could easily guess that her goal was to drag out the fight until his strengthening techniques ran out. Once they did that, he would be unable to resist her. Every time Yao Jun broke past the human puppets and clashed with Qiao Xian Yi's fists, space around them would crack and tear, forcing the both of them to separate themselves.

After the two had battle for a short while, Yao Jun landed on the ground a short distance away from Qiao Xian Yi, his eyes narrowed dangerously. He only had around two minutes left of his strengthening techniques, after that he would no longer be able to stand against her. He glanced slightly at his right arm and waist, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

His right arm was almost completely numb after colliding with Qiao Xian Yi's hands a few times, and there was a hole in his waist that went straight through, a result of him failing to dodge a shard of shattered space. Looking at Qiao Xian Yi who stood a short distance away, she looked completely fine, not even breathing heavily. There was after all a large difference in cultivation, he was able to pressure her, but wounding her would be somewhat hard.

He glanced at Guo Luo, who was fighting with Yuan Shen in the distance. There were traces of blood on her left arm and at the edges of her mouth, her armor cracked slightly. Yuan Shen on the other hand was breathing heavily, his hair disheveled, his eyes bloodshot. Yao Jun's eyes narrowed further, a plan appearing in his mind, the edges of his mouth pulling up into what could only be called a mad smile.

The lightning that was arching around him suddenly grew in intensity as Yao Jun increased how much lightning he let course through his body. The pain it brought with it was greater than ever before, as were the wounds it gave him, but the increase to his speed was also greater. He shot forward, only a slight blur visible as he moved towards Qiao Xian Yi. The human puppets were completely unable to stop him as he moved past them, arriving in front of Qiao Xian Yi.

Qiao Xian Yi punched out with her right arm, preparing her left to block whatever attack Yao Jun could send her way. Her eyebrows pricked up slightly when she noticed that Yao Jun did not send out any attack, nor moved to block or dodge her punch. Her punch connected with his chest, shattering his black armor and pushing the shards into his chest.

Just as she was confused at his actions, she saw his face. Carrying a mad smile that was now stained with blood, he reached out with his left hand and grasped onto Qiao Xian Yi's dress. He exerted all his strength, dragging her after him as he dashed towards Yuan Shen at full speed, the sound of thunder reverberating over the battlefield.

Yuan Shen and Guo Luo stopped their battle when they heard the sound of thunder, turning in the direction where it came from. Seeing Yao Jun charge over, neither of them were able to understand exactly what he was planning to do.

Yao Jun reached Yuan Shen in no time, throwing the still confused Qiao Xian Yi at him. From the time she hit him to him throwing her at Yuan Shen, only about a single second had passed, so she had yet to react properly. Yuan Shen dropped his axes and grabbed onto Qiao Xian Yi, stopping her from crashing into him.

He raised his head towards Yao Jun, his eyes landing on a small red orb that was now floating in Yao Jun's hand. Yuan Shen could feel a large amount of energy gathering in the orb, but he could feel that the orb was made out of fire, so he did not worry too much about it. When Yao Jun sent the orb towards Yuan Shen and Qiao Xian Yi, Yuan Shen did what he felt was natural, he used his control over fire in an attempt to send the orb back at Yao Jun.

But the moment his power made contact with the orb, it released a splendid light. The orb seemed to crack, a gust of cold air, a small tendril of darkness, and the sound of thunder ringing out from within the orb. Yuan Shen's expression turned grim when he realized what was happening.

Yao Jun had purposefully made the orb unstable, filling it with the power of not just fire, but also ice, wind, lightning, and darkness. Once all the elements came into contact with each other, they would release all their energy and explode. The only reason he had made it look like a fire orb was to lull Yuan Shen into a false sense of security, making him believe that he could send it back at Yao Jun.

The orb exploded, fire, ice, lightning, wind, and darkness shooting in all directions. The earth was rended and space cracked and tore, large black tears appearing and sucking in everything around them, shards of fragmented space slicing up everything they came into contact with.

This was Yao Jun's plan. He could not fight for much longer, and it was too hard to beat Qiao Xian Yi and Yuan Shen. Since that was the case, why not use all his power to shatter space around his enemies and force them to be sucked into a spatial rift, either torn apart or sent to an unknown location. Of course, the drawback was that Yao Jun was now almost completely devoid of energy and had several heavy wounds, as he too was within range of the explosion.

Yao Jun looked at the destroyed area in front of him with weary eyes. He was not quite able to see Qiao Xian Yi and Yuan Shen because of the smoke and dust that was being sucked into the spatial rifts, so he was still vigilantly sweeping the area. Guo Luo wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and started walking towards Yao Jun. Just as she was about to speak, she saw that the shadows beneath Yao Jun started wriggling, chains of darkness shooting up and coiling around his legs.

The chains extended out of his shadow and into the area filled with spatial rifts, pulling his body and forcing him to move towards the spatial rifts. The expressions of Yao Jun and Guo Luo rapidly twisted. At the end of the chains was Yuan Shen, whose body was covered with blood, a large scar on his chest. His lower body was already sucked into a spatial rift, only a few chains of darkness preventing him from being sucked in completely. He looked at Yao Jun with bloodshot eyes, his voice dripping with hatred.

“Good fucking plan! A really good fucking plan! But I will fucking drag you with me!”

After his voice sounded out, several more chains shot out from Yao Jun's shadow, moving to coil around him. Guo Luo dashed forward to help Yao Jun, but the chains started to move towards her once she got closer. Seeing the chains move to coil around Guo Luo, he immediately made up his mind.

He drained the rest of his energy, even over-drafting it and drawing from his life-force. A pillar of ice sprouted up from the ground in front of Guo Luo, smashing into her stomach and sending her flying backwards and away from Yao Jun. He had been the reason she had been forced into this hidden realm and lost her eye, he refused to be the reason she was sucked into a spatial rift and suffer an unknown fate.

Since he had used the last of his energy to push away Guo Luo, he could no longer even put up any resistance against the shadow chains, the speed at which they pulled him increasing. As he approached the rift that looked like a black maw, the majestic voice of the titanic bird sounded out in his head, a small red orb flashing past his eyes and entering his chest, sinking into his God Gate.

“You have proven your worth, little demon god. It was quite satisfying to see those little brats take such a beating. I will take care of that girl of yours, otherwise I would not be able to face Master ever again. I hope that the next time you come here, you will be worthy of taking over his mantle.”

After the voice rang out in his mind, Yao Jun's lower body was pulled into the spatial rift. He managed to tilt his head slightly, his eyes meeting the eyes of the distant Guo Luo. With the last of his physical strength, he put a bright smile on his face and mouthed a few words.

“I will return to you.”

After mouthing the words, the rest of his body was pulled into the spatial rift, vanishing into the darkness as he was thrown across space like a broken rag-doll.

Guo Luo looked at the black rift that had sucked up Yao Jun, biting her lips so hard that she drew blood. Once more he had pushed her away, once more he had worried that she was too weak, once more he had chosen to bear everything himself. While Guo Luo was agonizing over the fact that she was once again unable to follow Yao Jun, the regal voice of the titanic bird rang out once again.

“Now that the Successor has left, there is no longer a need for any of you to be here.”

After his voice rang out, the bird rang flapped his wings, causing a ripple to move through the area. Wherever the ripple passed, any spatial storms and spatial distortions completely vanished. Everyone touched by the ripple felt their bodies become weightless, quickly being thrown through space and out of the hidden realm. After the ripple had passed through the entire hidden realm, the only human left in the hidden realm was Guo Luo, still standing in the same spot and biting her lips. The bird turned its eyes towards Guo Luo, his voice ringing out once more.

“Little illusion god. Because of your relationship with the Successor, I will let you choose where I send you.”

Guo Luo raised her head and looked at the bird flying in the air above her, a glimmer of hope appearing in her eyes. Since he had the power to send everyone out of this space, surely he could send her through space after Yao Jun.

“Can you send me to Jun'er?”

The bird did not immediately respond, instead sending a stream of energy into Guo Luo's body, healing her wounds. After he healed her wounds, he shook his large head and crushed Guo Luo's hopes.

“To the location of the Successor? Impossible. Traveling to that spatial rift can bring him anywhere in this wide universe. If he were to end up on one of the closer planets, it would still be possible, but that is not the case here. He has only been inside it for a short few seconds, but he has already moved out of the range of my senses, sending you to him is impossible.”

Even at his level of power, teleporting to some of the closer planets was all he could do. Since Yao Jun had already moved out of the range of his senses, it meant that he had already traveled past all the closest planets. After hearing the words of the bird, Guo Luo could not help but look at him with somewhat aggrieved eyes.

“Senior, why didn't you stop him from falling into the spatial rift? It should be fairly easy with your power.”

Guo Luo refused to believe that he couldn't have saved Yao Jun before he fell into the spatial rift, he did manage to send something to Yao Jun right before he fell into the spatial rift after all. The bird looked at Guo Luo with its lofty eyes, a slight disdain noticeable in his voice as he spoke up.

“My duty is not to save him, it is to help him grow. He is the future Demon God, staying on this planet will only harm him. Only through adversity and struggle can he become someone worthy of that title. Little illusion god, tell me where you want to send me.”

Guo Luo could do nothing but lower her head slightly. Just like the bird said, his duty was not to save Yao Jun, it had no obligation to help him. After thinking it over for a short moment, Guo Luo raised her head and spoke out.

“Can you send me to a place called Golden Moon Town?”

Yao Jun had several times told her where Golden Moon Town was, and she had also seen the map of this continent several times. So while she spoke, she drew up the map, pointing at the location of Golden Moon Town. Yao Jun was gone, so it was up to her to go and meet up with his parents. The bird nodded his head, another ripple passing through space as he spoke.

“As you wish.”

–

While Guo Luo was being sent out of the hidden realm, Yao Jun was still traveling through the spatial rift. The inside of the spatial rift looked like a blurry blend of colors that flashed past Yao Jun at high speeds. By the time he entered the spatial rift, he had already overdrawn his energy and was severely wounded, so Yao Jun was barely conscious, only barely able to notice what was happening around him.

Since he was traveling through a rift in space, he was constantly bombarded by shattered fragments of space and slicing winds that came about from moving so fast, only further worsening his injuries. His interspatial ring had shattered, his clothing completely disintegrated, his body fatally wounded. But Yao Jun did not die.

Floating inside his Demon God's Gate was an orb of blood that was almost three meters in diameter. The orb was releasing small amounts of blood out of his Demon God's Gate and into his body, nourishing it and slowly healing his injuries, preventing him from being torn apart. But the orb of blood was not only nourishing his body, most of the blood was being used to nourish Little Gray, who was resting underneath the orb of blood.

As more and more blood started to enter Little Gray's body, his previously gray feathers were starting to take on a silvery color, his strength slowly rising as more and more blood gathered around him, forming a cocoon that enveloped him.

After traveling through the spatial rift for an unknown amount of time, Yao Jun felt like he heard a distant cracking sound, the blend of colors around him giving way for an all encompassing blue. Just as he was wondering what was going on, he felt his own body fall into something liquid.

He tried to look at his surroundings, but he did not even have the energy to move his eyes. He had left the space rift, but his body was still riddled with horrific injuries. The healing that the orb of blood provided him had also slowed down significantly, more and more of the blood being funneled into the cocoon that surrounded Little Gray.

With the orb of blood slowing down the speed of the healing process, Yao Jun slowly became unable to keep himself conscious, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. He felt something dry, almost like a cluster of dust, land on his face, but before he managed to even wonder what it was, his consciousness slipped away and he sank into darkness.

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